Origins in Darkness
by Ireth-Tasartir
Summary: Sequel to Copper Blaze. Yoley discovers a way to go to Izzy, but once there, she, Kari and Matt see themselves in the middle of a battle, now Yolei must choose between Izzy and a mysterious elven man called Silven.
1. Dreams of Memories

Large caramel eyes glinted with worry, sparkling in the night like two stars which have fallen from the velvet ceiling of splittered glitter. The beast raised her enormous silver head, and the moon licked her argent scales with envious rays. Her white mane ruffled in the wind, a gentle breeze brought the news of far away lands, news that made the dragon flinch as if shaken by a jolt of electricity, and a frown grew in the young, yet serious and wise features. The female reptile lowered her head and closed her beautiful eyes, a solemn look appeared in her enormous figure, and had it not been for the gentle trembling of her coriaceous wings, and the dancing of her hard strads of white fur, her stillness would have made her seem as a smooth looking piece of the small rocky hill.

The dargon's eyes snapped open and her head stood up abruptly as soon as the gentle and peaceful silence was broken by the calm, slow yet powerful flapping of wings. The night sky flashed with the pressence of a copper blaze, the quickest of all dragons flashed before her eyes like the flame of a comet, with an intense flaming red colour, yet not the blood crimson but the glittering copper. The smaller creature, friends since birth, landed next to her, gripping the rocks firmly with the hook like claws that crowned her legs. The copper beast looked at the animal with worry, and, in her black orbs, appeared a look of worry upon sensing the aura of tension irradiating from the silver figure.

"what did the winds tell you Kenta?" inquired the copper lizard in a shaky voice.

"Oro, our cousins and our allies could not stop the hords of Chaos, those who have not been killed have scattered seeking for safety. The army is moving quickly, unstoppable, it wants to reach the Apakoh Valley!" explained the silver dragon calmly, never letting her frustration destroy her integrity.

"our males…" started Oro fearing the response to be heard, letting her much more impulsive character being controlled by the fear of having lost her beloved male.

"Fireflash, your mate, Selvmoon, my beloved male, and Darknight, Kisanths noble couple, have all perished valiantly in hopes of saving us and our hatchlings from a sure extinction!" concluded Kenta equally calmly, ignoring the gentle and salty tear that sparkled in a trail down her scaly cheek.

"NO! Fireflash!" Oro roared furiously but pityfully torwards the black and clear skies, feeling the urge to fly in search of her beloved mate and father of her only child.

"Oro! Relax!" growled Kenta menacingly, staring at the copper dragong with such an intenge and severe gaze it was enough to make the animal relax. Oro had always respected her cousin's integration and calm upon crossing tough times, even now when the darkness spread across the world, and the glare received was enough to make her feel a current of frozen liquid flowing through her, blooming from that love and respect.

"I have a mission for you!" explained Kenta.

Upon hearing such words Oro's attention snapped torwards the still quiet and calm beast, still perched on her stone, passive and still like a fragment of rock.

"it is known between the sorcerers that there are seven dimensions!" started explaining Kenta, "and some families of different species have gathered all their savings in order to save themselves, to be transported by such sorcerers to another dimension, away from Chaos. We do not own any wealth to offer, but our own nobility, as Dragons.Oro, take Silvane, Onyx, Koe and Blaze and send them torwards safety, it's all we can do now!" Kenta explained never looking at Oro.

Without another word, nor questioning her posibilities, nor inquiring about the expected future, Oro leapt off the rock and flapped her way torwards the nests, where she would pick the three dragons, the silver dragon of ice, the copper dragon of fire and the velvet blue dragon of fire and thunder, son of a Moon Dragon and a Nit Kyrum, one of the most powerful dragons of the dark side.

Kenta stayed perched on her rock, observing the horizon, watching the dark way that roared in a numb tremble against the tense and penetrating silence of a night that visioned the pouring of noble and pure blood. She resigned to the obvious, observing the approaching army of furious beast, men that were not men, nor lizards, but a mixture, riding on horses that were nor horses nor dragons, with a crown of scales coursing their backs and necks, a hard skull that formed a beak and enormous, leathery wings. They were many, many against her, Kisanth, their velvet blue friend, and Oro, the hyperactive copper dragon, their odds were zero to thousand.

The battle was at it's climax, the two females, one silver, the other night blue with sharp features, fought bravely against the magickal strength the Dark Knights carried, magick in the shape of lances, the Dragonbanes. Kenta's side was bleeding profusely from a cut inflicted by one of the Dragonbanes, the long gash tore her hard and beautiful scales, and crimson liquid stained her argent side. Kisanth oppened her sharp jaws and released a current of electric magick that stunned and burnt several knights and their draconish horses. A Dragonbane crossed Kisanth's forearm and the beast emmited a loud shriek filled with pain, her wound burnt as if it had been slashed with a burning coal. It was a small distraction, but enough since the boss of those hords of darkness trespassed the night dragon with his long lance, straight in the chest. Kisanth simply stared wide eyed at the emptyness of space, then she collapsed to move no more.

Kenta stared at the dragon with grief, and her decition was taken, she knew what to do for the safety of all Becenykan. Without questioning her safety, and placed her heart in the well being of the whole planet, she closed her eyes, feeling the darkness flowing all around herself, as the Chaos Knights galloped around her, staring curiously at her passiveness. Under her breath a chant was echoing into her mind, and flowing gently into the wind, spirit of which eagerly and pleasantly spread her words to the athmosphere. In a few seconds the darkness subsided, only to be attacked, defeated and replaced by the gentleness and purity of a feeling of light and magick, the spirits of nature aided her word. 

Under the horror of those creatures of evil, Kenta had started to glow with the brightness of a light so inmaculate it was above all comparison. Kenta's body spread like a blanket all over the battlefield, yet it was a body no more but an ent of light and purity, of safety, a vaccine against darkness. It was not long until all Becenykan saw the skies, tinted previously with the crimson of blood, irradiate with the brightness of safety. The gods had returned, would say some,while others praised the sorcerers. Only few, all creatures of Becenykan, knew the sacrifice of a fine, argent dragon, all friends of Kenta, Kisanth and Oro, all of whom had perished in the battlefield. Oro not long after saving the precious hatchlings, in the sharpness of a Dragonbane.

A whirlpool of colours flashed before the viewer's eyes, colours brilliant like stars, yet with the calmness and paleness of the profound waters of a jungle pond, clear and chrystaline. Water, pale blue and violet danced all around the Viewer, flashes of brightness echoed in the distance, sparkled like briliant stars: an orb, the moon? No, brghter than the moon as it flashed with lightning brilliance. The Viewer was dashing across the gravityless athmosphere, approaching the orb of light, or was the orb growing? No, the bubbles of pale blue, the dawn violets of dew, and the pale greens of nature flashed before her eyes in a tunnel engulfing and representing all the colours of life. Shutting the eyes tightly she entered the orb, which was now as large as a beast of ancestral times, and the energy surged across the body, whichever body it was.

Oppening the eyes sh observed the surroundings, forest, valleys transformed for human agricultural needs, humans surounding the Viewer, humans so small the Viewer was sure a simple hit with a hand could kill the lot of them. They looked like peasants, dressed in the antique clothes of medieval times, the third state, the farmers and workers of nobility. Armed with nothing more than their working tools, their eyes flashed with hathred, their fists were clenched menacingly, and their faces were contornted in a horrible frown of darkness, of bad memories, suffering and resignation.

"how dare you return? Your lot brought the death to this place 18 years ago" snarled a man with a face so similar to a wild boar's, it was surprising he didn't grunt instead of speak.

"me?" gasped the Viewer, yet, to the surprise of it, the voice was an understandable growl, maleish, yet coherent.

"get him!" barked a second peasant raising a fist which clenched a shovel.

Fear and shock took control of the creatures body, trenbling all over and not knowing what to do, memories flashed before the eyes of the Viewer, thoughts full of simpathy, nostalgy and love. Flashes of beings the Viewer knew well appeared before the eyes, a young lady with violet hair as smooth as silk, a handsome boy with a noble look in the bright blue eyes, a pretty young lady with short, caramel hair and features as innocent as angelic. 

A copper flash emerged from the ocean of pure green trees, an image that brought fear to the villagers, "she's back!" screamed one of the villagers rushing to hide in the hay insecurity of their wooden houses. The flaming beast, a copper female, flew torwards the Viewer, "this way!" her roar echoed in the area, overcoming the frightened yells of the ant like creatures before the two beasts. Viewer leapt up to the sky and flew after the copper dreagon, thinking that she was the most beautiful creature it had ever seen.

"why are they scared of you and not me? I'm bigger!" commented Viewer in that maleish roar.

"I happen to have threatened them, burning their pastures and so if they didn't allow me some peace. Turns out humans all around Becenykan say we are guilty about the war against Chaos, only because the Sinister Dragons turned to Chaos side, but they do not see the difference between Synister Dragons and Elemental Dragons like us!" the female commented never stopping her flight, the sun licking the copper scales in a way that was very arousing to the Viewer.

"interesting, and what is your name?" inquired Viewer keeping the thoughts away from the female dragon, and the seductive way of whipping her tail.

"Koeya, but call me Koe, and you?!" Koe purred lowering her head lightly, and keeping her wings tense in a hover.

"my name…." Started the Viewer, yet the sound and the image started to blend, to fuse, a foggy mist covered the vision of Viewer and soon all was pale with fog.

Caramel eyes snapped open, breathing laboured, shock still pressing at the heart of a young, 18 year old female. She was sweating all over, the reality of the dream still punping imtensely in her mind, dancing brightly into her mind.

"those dreams, they are not dreams, they are the livings of someone!" said her voice, hoarse due to the hours of sleep, yet clearly female, and very melodious.

"she must now!" came a muffled voice from the depths of the house.

The young female stood up, strands of long, caramel hair flowing in tangles over her fine shoulders, gently her toes carried her torwards the door. The reflection of stray, weak rays of pale, dull light reached her room, slythering past the corridor in weak movements, unable to access some of the darkest corners of the long, and furnished area.

"it's hard, it's not like any other child, don't you see? It was a river bank, she'll never understand!" exclaimed a female voice, easily recognizable for being the woman's mother.

"Kari must know she was found in a river bank, by the Ryuu River!" Exclaimed the man nor furiously yet desperately.

To Be Continued…

AN: Ok, here comes the first chapter, as you all know this is the sequel to Copper Blaze, and it gets deeper into the background of those little things I left untold, like the misterious someone that can understand the language of dragons, and who knows all about Becenykan, the caster of the ice magick, and who the misterious Wolf is. Please, read and Review.


	2. Ray of Hope

A slender and light hand clutched the silky, white gown with trembling strength, nearly scratching the delicate cloth with the sharp and long nails. Chest raised and fell with trouble, quick and ragged breaths were swallowed with anxiety. The rosy lips were open in shock, and also suffocation, like a fish's mouth when it's out of the water. Eyes lost into infinity, staring into the depths of her memory, seeking all that was worth. The intertwined scenes of reality and dream confused her. Her adventures as Digidestined, her first love, her first failure, her friend and brothers, Blaze and all the new feelings is presence bloomed within her.

She turned around and made a speed towards the room, tears spilling down her caramel and warm eyes with frustration. Her pale skin tensed in her face reflecting an intense pain. She flew towards the bed and recalled the past experiences, occurred not long ago.

 "ok you win, I am Blaze, the copper dragon!" Izzy snapped with some anger, or should we say frustration accumulated.

"sun dragon" had a cheery little voice replied. Kari's voice, her voice. "I see it in my dreams, 17 dragons Izzy, 9 Elemental, 8 Sinister, the 17 species of Becenykan!"

She had gotten odd looks upon revealing such knowledge, but ignored it. At first she considered her oddities as normal, for deep inside her she never considered her own existence as different. Yet now she knew some factor ignored through her life; she was adopted.

Through a blurry vision her eyes focused on the immaculate paleness of her hands. She stared at them like that first day, fearful and trembling, her mind shocked yet full of prejudice. Back then they were muddy and torn. Now they were glistening with the humidity of her own tears, sparkling silvery, almost like a dolphin's skin.

"what am I?" questioned a strangled and broken voice, cracked with a sob that threatened to arise.

That day in the forest he had seen Yoley laying on the floor, and over her, standing in a trembling courage, was Wolf, the silvery golden werewolf. Before the couple was Onyx, their mayor threat of the moment, an enormous black dragon with a hormone decontrol, who pursued Izzy. The beast was threatening, inflating his chest and releasing a column of fire that licked and burnt the air itself with it's potency. Kari had felt a tugging on her body, and closing her thumb and index in a circle, she conjured a spell. Petals of ice had melted the fire, avoided a death and created a growing doubt within the woman.

Kari knew she shouldn't worry, for Izzy turned out a dragon. However, although her nature was tolerant she was frightened. Her eyes had observed Yoley's reaction towards Izzy's second identity. Friendship had turned out to matter to her far more than the 17 metres of length and the nearly 2 ton weight of the creature.

"what matters is the person!" had Yoley commented once.

However, although her friends were bound to be there for her, she was troubled and doubtful, scared at their rejection. She knew that was not bound to happen, however it was in her fears, for she ignored the true nature of her power and the chaos it might develop given the case.

"oh, I hope I was just a dragon like Izzy, that way I would know and control my power" moaned the girl, still her throat constricted by the fluid tears.

A cheerful smile illuminated a face of pure skin. The girl looked around with flashing blue eyes, sparkling with joy, irradiating with a brilliance that was unknown to her, and wondered her person in equality. Her lavender hair was tied in a ponytail, and her callous fingers, due to continuous and minucious work on minuscule particles, gripped an item with strength. It was like the opening device of a garage door, and was the colour of purple, darker than her smooth hair.

"I finally found the formula" snapped the girl cheery, examining her friend's faces with studious curiosity.

A golden haired boy rounding his twenty raised an amused eyebrow. Kari, meanwhile, seemed totally spaced, staring at the woman but looking right through her.

"hum guys…the connection to open a worm hole and travel to Izzy's place!" snapped the girl slightly angry, snapping her fingers to make her point.

"ah!" had exclaimed the handsome teenager of luminous pale eyes, "you meant that, I was just thinking about some of my things!"

"Matt, what's wrong? Is it full moon the same night of the Iron Maiden concert?" commented the woman placing an angered hand on her hip.

"ha ha, very funny Yoley, NO! My guitarist left the group, said he wanted to be a solo, and I'm having one heck of a time in finding a suitable one." Growled the boy with an almost inhuman sound, glaring at the girl sarcastically.

"well, anyways, I used Izzy's device, because I supposed it would have a closer connection to that world, and thanks to the help of our good friend Genai, and to my knowledge about maths and computer technology (we must thank Izzy for such) I was able to create a connection with that world!" Yoley explained excitedly, pointing in numerous times at the small device.

"erm, has it got notes?" inquired Matt raising a confused eyebrow at the girl.

"um, pardon me?" asked Yoley leaning in closer, wondering whether she had heard correct.

"musical notes Yoley!" explained the boy, gesticulation profusely as to make his point clear.

"what have musical notes got to do with electronic?" gasped Yoley confused and almost exasperated.

"well then, don't explain me anything that hasn't got to do with musical notes, it's the same as if I tell you about the variation of octaves in accords of seven!" explained Matt standing up and raising his melodious voice.

Yoley snorted but avoided a confrontation with the man. She feared him as much as she had feared Izzy, but admitted he was right, and in the actual moment, the last two friends that remained in touch were far more important to her than pride. After Izzy's departure, Kari and Matt had been there by her, and were the only ones, including Tai, that never treated her as crazy upon her declaration of Izzy's disappearance through a worm hole.

Just then did Yoley notice on the weeping figure, who was about to collapse on a heap right now. She frowned worried at the ghastly expression and pale skin that ran across the youth's features.

"Kari? Kari! Are you ok?" Yoley called snapping her fingers, trying to attract her attention.

Kari looked up distractedly. Her caramel eyes observed the surrounding as if she had just woken up and was attempting to situate herself. A weak and forced smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and a soulless shrug attempted to occur on the blades of her shoulders.

"I'm fine, it's just that I'm adopted!" explained the girl looking at her friends, explaining the reason of her mind's absence as if commenting the weather.

"oh, come on Kari, it's not that bad, I mean, Izzy was adopted!" Yoley explained, embracing the woman in a tight, comforting hug.

"yeah, it's not like your parents won't love you more than they would love Tai just because of that!" said the blond child, placing a hand on the woman's slim shoulder and squishing it lightly and tenderly.

Kari collapsed emotionally. She threw herself forward and engulfed Yoley's larger body in a tight hug. Tears began to flow, streaming down her pale cheeks and moistening the girl's blue shirt abundantly. Her body convulsed periodically with spasms developed by the continuous sobbing. A muffled whine could be heard from time to time, echoing in the depths of the body in a drowned manner. Yoley's eyes focused on Matt helplessly, her intention had been cheering the girl, hence she had done quiet the opposite without even knowing what had she said that could have caused such reaction.

"But … but Yoley!" exclaimed Kari pulling away from the girl's warmth and friendship, "Izzy is a dragon, and I'm afraid!" finished the girl staring intently at both creatures.

Matt raised an eyebrow while staring at the woman. Her eyes were puffy and swelled, and were quiet red. Her pale cheeks sparkled and shone with the presence of tears on her fine skin.

"don't you understand? Think! My knowledge about a world that you don't even know it existed! I can understand dragon language! And it was I who saved you and Wolf from Onyx's attack!" finished the girl in a high pitched scream, pointing accusatively at Yoley.

Matt winced and stood up abruptly, staring with wide eyes at the young girl. Yoley recoiled feeling her throat constricted, staring at the young woman with something close to hope and sympathy.

"you did that? How could you release that attack?" inquired Matt staring curiously at Kari, his bright blue eyes focused right into her caramel gaze.

Through that blurry veil, Kari observed the man's eyes with admiration and surprise, hence she ignored why of his alteration towards the ignorance of her identity. Opening her eyes a little bit more, her mind analyzed his vision, those crystalline eyes that, while focused and studious, and very attentive, were always absent.

"I don't know! I don't know!" screamed the exasperated and altered girl, "I overheard my father saying they had found me by the Ryuu river, I know nothing else about myself, what if I'm some sort of weird creature and morph into an ogre or something!" squeaked the girl in a shaky voice, trembling all over.

"that'll never happen Kari!" said Matt placing both arms, and staring at the woman straight into the eyes in such a sharp yet noble way he was convincing.

"the moon!" thought Kari abruptly, staring into the man's eyes confidently.

"I promise!" finished Matt with a warm smile, so contagious that it was soon placed into the woman's cherry lips.

Kari's face was illuminated with a light that irradiated right from her heart, the smile was of such brightness it competed against that of the sparkling stars, and her eyes regained such brilliance that polished amber could do nothing against their beauty. She had regained the trust lost, and knew from their own lips that her friends would always be there for her needs.

"I'm leaving tonight!" explained Yoley stuffing in a few pants into a large, camping bag.

The woman stared at them with an excitement such that it expanded and filled the room with the alteration it supposed. Her eyes were bright, reflecting not the room but the wondrous lands she was to meet. A copperish glitter, like a mild flame seemed to be present in the depths of her bluish orbs, reminder of their friend's existence.

"I'm coming!" snapped in Matt standing up and clenching a fist tightly. His blue eyes were determined, and the prideful smirk on his lips warned of any contradiction to his proposition.

"me too, there are answers I can not find here!" added in Kari, staring with a pleading and warm gaze at the woman.

Yoley opened her mouth to complain, but hesitated slightly, gazing at the two, now adults that stood before her.

"It'll be dangerous!" she finally had the courage to reply.

"less dangerous if more people come!" said Matt winking an eye at the woman, smirking wisely and cleverly at the young girl.

"anyways, we are the Digidestined after all, what is danger to us?" said Kari staring at the woman innocently.

Yoley smiled, unable to convince them of the contrary, and happy that her friends were bound to risk their lives in order to accompany her in such perilous and unknown journey.

"this will be like our first trip to the Digiworld!" Yoley commented, smiling at the teenagers with a look that clearly said how pleased she was for their company.

Yoley raised her hand towards the computer screen, pointing at the black, thick glass with the threat of a Digidevice. Her fingers were white with the tension of gripping the item so tightly. Drops of sweat trickled down her forehead, running grimly across her nose, to suicide themselves by catapulting their fluid bodies from such height. Her face was a frown of nerves, reflecting the anxiety that possessed her. Deep inside she was excited by being able to find her best friend, yet she was also nervous, and the Ifs began to attack her. What if it didn't work? What if they all perished? What if Izzy was dead? What if he forgot her? If he was just a dragon now?

"Portal OPEN!" she commanded authoritally, her voice a quiver yet strong and determined.

Immediately the item grasped tightly on Yoley's hand began to irradiate an intense glow. At first a dim bluish, and continuously increasing graduation until becoming a strong and brilliant pale ice. The three children looked away briefly, covering their sensitive eyes with their hands, seeing nothing but lights and shadows within their visions as they were briefly blinded by the fulgor. The glow travelled in a sly slithering, waving softly and sneaky until reaching the screen. Possessed by the light the same screen, dull and black, bean to irradiate a bright sparkling of equal proportions.

"quick, hold me!" yelled the young scientist who had bred such wondrous object.

The other two obeyed instantly, taking a firm hold of the woman's shirt. Their eyes gazed into the swirling depths of a tunnel that seemed to have opened right before them, a depth without end which called and attracted them with a bait of honey.

The light increased far greater than ever, it's brilliance conquering the shadows that lurked in the room. The glow engulfed the three pre adults and grabbed them with their warm fingers. Then the beast retreated towards it's depths, inside the tunnel, inside the star that had appeared. It retreated leaving the room silent, with shadows quickly taking control over their ancient territories. A room with a silence so anguish, a tension so thick it was palpable. A room that was empty except for the black beings that slithered and lurked inside the depths of the shadows. No trace of the three children was left, nothing to point out their former pressence, nothing at all.

The three traveles quickly through the eye of a tornado. The colours swirled around them in a whirlpool of mild colours, or bright lights, and stars of all intensity and sparkles. Particles or shinny glitter floated past them calmly, racing with them in a twinkle of complice, and chimming like minuscule bells with their magnified beauty. Particles of lights and sound trapped and fused together in the depths of a long and endless tunnel.

They flew, stomach down, or up for they ignored their position, arms extended and faces looking straight forward. Yoley was beaming, radiant and excited, happy like she had never been before. Matt seemed lightly frightened, attempting to grasp air, or an invisible something that would help him slow down his speed. Kari, on the other hand, was conmotioned, looking around nervously, a thoughtful frown crossing her worried features.

"this was in my dream! I crossed this tunnel once already!" Kari thought to herself, for she wouldn't dare to speak in fear of leaving her voice behind.

A blinding flash flared before them, increasing rapidly of intensity. It was a blinding light, like the sun itself or far more, and it tempted them to follow it. It was the exit, the light at the end of a dark tunnel. However, aside the pressure and the speed felt by the movement inside the worm hole, the atmosphere was rather pleasant, warm with a freshness hanging from it, and a humidity that was unnaturaly sweet.

They all yelled upon plunging head first into the light. They closed their eyes for the ache was unbearable, the light was far too brilliant to maintain their gazes focused under conditions of safety. They felt a surge of energy flow through them, as if their bodies were fusing together by some sort of strange force, a pressure that was in a way an interesting experience, since they felt able to lift a mountain.

And it all ended abruptly when their bodies felt first a current of cold air, to end with their bodies colliding hard against pavimented floor. Yoley groaned sitting back, feeling her aching back all over in search of fractures, while her other hand sensed and analized the ground unconciously. She could not see clearly, blinded as she was by the brilliance of the travel, but she saw through an illuminated and blurry vision that there were buildings before her, grey and dull buildings, created with the same material as the floor. Stones, large boulders of grey stones, marbles, wood and hay were the materials used to build the houses and comerces of this place. This was not Odaiba, this was not Japan, this looked like a Lord of the Rings movie.

A pair of hooves stood before her, an enormous shadow with flaming eyes, but Yoley saw nothing more that difuminated figures. She did recognize that the beast before her was no horse, for although it seemed, acted and nieghed like one, it had enormous wings on it's sides, and not the noble, feathered kind.

"I think it was very clear that by noon nobody was allowed out of their homes, wasn't it?" echoed a cruel voice inside the metallic helmet that covered the rider's head.

"sir, we are not from here!" she heard Matt growl behind her, and stand up with some trouble, the boy's voice a threatening and warning snarl.

"you, three shall pay for your insolence and disrespect towards the Dark Lord!" boomed the cruel voice within the helmet.

A glow and the metallic swish of a blade cutting the air told Yoley that the man had unsheated a sword. She shook her head mentally and pitied herself, so far had she gone to die blind and in the hands of a psicopath on a dragon horse. She closed her eyes to prepare herself for the impact, for the unbearable pain that was to reach her in brief.

The blade swished in the air, whistling threatening, like a poisonous snake hissing in it's warning before the bite. Yoley clenched her fists tightly, and shut her eyes with equal strength, she heard it, in slow motion, approaching. Finally she heard the sharp and cruel sound of…

To Be Continued…

AN: Ok here goes the second chapter. Sorry for the delay but I really didn't feel too inspired, and had a story in my head I had the urge to put to work.

Coldfang: well, I appreciate your comment on clearing a few points, but then again, if we do that, what would the fun of the story be? I know I left many gaps, and I  did it knowing well what I was doing. The reason to that was keeping people interested, for everything will be revealed at the end (or before).

Well, keep reading, I hope you are enjoying it. By the way, let me remind you this is the sequel to Copper Blaze, you will understand many things if you read that one before.


	3. Jag, The Noa Kyre

The blade swished in the air, whistling threatening, like a poisonous snake hissing in it's warning before the bite. Yoley clenched her fists tightly, and shut her eyes with equal strength, she heard it, in slow motion, approaching. Finally she heard the sharp and cruel sound of metal against metal, in a sharp collision that chimed with it's melodious and vibrating sound.

Yoley shocked by such sound, and event, opened her eyes once again, receiving a painful shower of sun light that sent an intense ache through her eyes. Her vision, although slightly clearer, was still hazy and blurry, as if before the sun focused straight to her eyes floated a veil of foggy mist. Before her she saw an enormous figure of a bright copper colour, blazing like a flame, illuminated by the bright, golden rays of the sun. The creature was standing on hands, and threatening with pavorous snarls and snorts at the knight on dragon horse. Sitting on the backs of such animal was a much smaller figure, dressed in various colours, whites and browns, and of black skin, bearings something long that sparkled with the sharp brilliance of a blade.

"Izzy?" called Yoley staring intently at the copperish creature.

"you two, take her away from her, run to the forest, they'll never venture there alone, it's dangerous for evil!" called the person riding the copperish creature, staring at them through cold eyes, and determining her order with the strength of a female's voice.

Yoley felt nothing more but the tugging pull of her friend's arms, dragging her away from the black threat and the copperish saviour with the dark knight. Yoley stumbled, she was strong enough to maintain her body in a standing position, but the speed Matt and Kari developed, mixed with the factor of her momentary blindness, and made her trip over stones and sharp edges. That was all she knew before she submerged into a world of darkness, where no consciousness was to be illuminated, and no star sparkled in the darkness of the sky's depths.

Yoley's eyes fluttered open, receiving a dim flash of solar light that, slyly, sneaked across the gaps of a tattered and rotten curtain. She was laying on a soft bed which seemed to screech whenever she moved, almost as if it was filled with millenary and dry hay. She looked at the ceiling, built out of dark and harsh wood, so rough that it looked like the trees had been cut and placed there straight away. The walls were created with a collection of shapeless and all sized stones, dull grey and, in some points, they stuck out in harmful edges of glistening razor sharpness.

Yoley stood up quickly and felt her vision darken slightly, as her body was engulfed by a brief sensation of daze, released by her abrupt movement. She looked around startled, attempting to remember in her foggy memory what had occurred moments before she blacked out. She remembered mostly sensations, the feeling of complete joy and excitement, almost tremor upon opening the portal that would conduct her towards this world. The copperish figure that had stood, glistening powerfully and majestic, before her.

"Izzy!" gasped the woman in a drowned and hoarse voice.

Yoley raced outside, not paying attention at the weak and old house, which could barely stand on its columns. She saw it, overjoyed, a dragon of scales an intense flaming colour. It was laying there, its eyes closed, absorving the comforting warmth of a few strands of sun light, weakened briefly by the pressence of a ceiling of leaves.

Yoley's heart was beating rapidly, and her pulse was trembling exageratedly. Her lips split in a nervous grin upon observing the solemn creature. Her face was illuminated by a hopeful light that bornt right within her soul. She felt confused, happy, and frightened all at once. But speacially nervous. She ran a collection of sentences through her mind, remembering all the things, so often changed, that she had planned on saying if she ever saw him again. Her throat was a knot as she approached with tender, slow steps. Inside she knew well that all this words were never to be said, but it made her feel more comfortable upon redacting all this speech through her memory. It was hard to concentrate on it having her train of thoughts collapsed by the passengers of her memory with him.

"Izzy!" she called through a strangled sob once she was close enough.

The startled dragon oppened it's eyes abruptly and quickly, and focused it's gaze on the small and delicate figure of the girl. Yoley recoiled gasping, all her hoped sinking in a sea of despair. She examined the dragon's eyes and face closely, with detail, as her soul tore and broke attacked by the blood thirsty fangs of darkness' beast. The face of this dragon was much thinner than it had been of Izzy's, and the eyes were not black, but a flamming brown sprinkled with amber. This dragon was also smaller, around 14 metres instead of Izzy's good 17 metres. And the colour of it's scales was as vivid, but a tone or two lighter than Izzy's flaming scales. And to end with Yoley's observations, this dragon was a female.

"you are not Izzy!" pointed Yoley accusatively.

The dragon shook her head sadly, smiling comfortingly at the woman. Her eyes were blazing with a sparkled of simpathy, and the gentle swaying of her head signaled that she would do no bad.

"I won't hurt you!" said the dragon in a soft roar.

Yoley could not understand the language of dragons, but had heard Izzy enough times to know that this dragon meant no harm to her.

"well, you are awake, by Beesyhn I thought you would never wake up!" said a familiar voice behind Yoley, a voice that arose in her memory from a very dark pit.

The girl turned around and saw, startled, a young woman, or was it a dog? She ignored for this creature had parts of both breeds. The face was that of a dog with sharp ears, yet her muzzle was much shorter, and the face more round. She had a crown of hair, held on a ponytail, and a thick bunch of strands fell over her forehead. The hair was soft and silky, like human hair, glistening in a reddish brown colour. She had one of the most mischievous smiles Yoley had ever seen, and the intelligent and studious eyes were of a frightening cold, icy blue. The teen couldn't help but take a step back, flashes of a murderous black mouth, crowned with a pair of glistening, cold blue eyes. Her whole body was covered in a soft, glossy fur, the colour of night itself, yet with such beauty it could mean no bad.

This creature had the body of a person, dressed of a white shirt built out of very fine silks. Covering her chest and stomach was a vest built out of brown leather, and the symbol of a moon and a dog was printed on her left side. The pants engulfed musculous legs up to under her knee, a dull brown cloth, yet not leather. A belt which was nothing but a thick, red scarf, covered the slim waist. To finish with, her legs were surounded by tight, white socks, which finished on a pair of light shoes, also leather. Yoley couldn't help but realize the way this creature was dressed looked just like the numerous pirate movies. She wondered wether this female was a pirate.

On her arms she carried two large fish, each being nearly as big as this creature, and probably they weighed their good 20 kilograms as well. They were sparkling with the water still present on their scales, and their crystaline eyes reflected strength and fear. A trickle of blood dripped from their mouths, and it became more profuse on the sides, where a sharp weapon seemed to have tore and penetrated them viciously.

"can't you speak? I don't remember your friends telling me anything about that inconvenient!" comented the woman in a voice that showed her spirits, determination and strength, and even hatred formed part of it.

"Kari and Matt? Where are they?" snapped Yoley eagerly, forcing her still hoarse voice to command a scream.

The creature smiled knowingly, "ah, then you can talk?" she said sarcastically, yet with a hint of humor that was sweet and pleasant. "they are by the stream picking water!" she finished passively.

"who are you? Were you the one that saved me?" inquired Yoley suspiciously, her years in the digiworld paying off positively.

"my name is Jaguar Nighthowler, but call me Jag, I am a Noa Kyre!" explained the creature with pride, inflating her chest.

"um!" murmurred Yoley amused, staring at the creature with confusion.

"oh, you don't know what a Noa Kyre is, well, lets say we are one of the few races of Becenykan, which is this land. You'll see very few of them down here in Cyma, we live up in the island of Hepeaneh, but I'm here on a mision!" explained Jag calmly.

"what mision?" inquired Yoley curiously, opening up to this creature.

A rumble behind her atracter her attention. The dragon was shaking her head negatively, and staring intently at the Noa Kyre. Jag snorted and looked up at the dragon with a slight anger.

"ah, shut up Koe, she doesn't even know where she is, not like all of a sudden she became a spy of the Dark Lord himself!" exclaimed the dog woman gesticulating, pointing and Yoley with something to make her point.

"it's ok if you don't want to tell me!" said Yoley nervously, somewhat feeling a light fear towards a dragon she didn't know.

"oh, don't worry, Jelly!" said the Noa Kyre looking at her with an apologizing gaze.

"Yoley!" corrected the young teenager, looking at the wolfgirl with confusion.

"Now is not the time, we'll wait until tonight, when I will explain all you need, and answer to all of your questions!" finished Jag ignoring the correction imposed over the girl's name.

The sparkling flame danced lustfully in a gypsy movement, resembling an oriental woman swaying with the erotic buckling of her hips. The sparkling of fireflies floated frantically towards the sky, sparkling stars of a coal red intensity, invisible wings of smoke and bodies of fire blazing beautifully. The brilliance of the flame licked the faces solemnly, tenderly, yet with a warmth that was comforting in the cold weather, yet threatening with its powerful heat.

The black fur of the Noa's face blazed with anticipation, sharpening the canine features and the graveness of the situation. The other's pale and tender skin reflected the orange and red fingers of fire. Their eyes focused on the cold, ice blue orbs, intense gazes and eager lips trembling, anxious breathing shattering the silence, only interrupted by the cracking of the agonizing wood. They were calm yet nervous, wondrous and willing to discover the dog's speech.

"this land yierns. It cries and agonizes on its' coals. The kings die of hunger, and the people blame the dragons for having abandoned them!" snapped the Noa's voice, sharp and hurt, as severe and calm as it might happen to be.

"abandoned them?" inquired Kari in a shaky voice.

"twenty years ago there was a war. A sorceress called Rakesh summoned the powers of Erato, the God of Darkness. He was ambitious and wanted to gather power, but he was not evil. However his ritual went wrong, and instead of getting Erato's powers, he got possesed by Erato himself." Jag explained, focusing her eyes gravely on the girl, and switching by turns with a slow, penetrating gaze.

Kari exhaled a deep breath, a gasp echoing in the silent room, her eyes wide as her mind ran across the images of her dreams.

"then it was not just a dream!" she gasped silently, getting curious glances from the rest of the ground.

"anyways,  Rakesh, or should we say Erato, who had finally managed to return to Becenykan after his exile, took control over his hords and quickly united an army of Chaos Knights, Synister Dragons and other evil creatures. People risked their lives against those hords, but little could be done. It was the first time since a long time ago that the dragons and all the creatures united their powers to fight evil." Jag said, inflating her chest proudly, and remembering having fought in that was as well, hence her young appereance, she had many years of wisdom over her shoulders.

"but it was not enough, now was it?" commented Matt calmly, his voice was a whisper, a hiss, the breeze of the wind.

"unfortunately they had a powerful weapon, one stolen from the plundered temples or Gynaro, our God of Light and Goodness, the Dragonbanes! This weapons are powerfully magickal, and can kill a dragon as easily as you can kill a bug!" Jag snarled with an inhuman growl, clenching her fists and looking into the infinity. She was reliving those times when the cause she was fighting for seemed futile.

"I was a Dragon Knight, my companion was called Fireflash, a copper dragon, we were attacked and he perished in the hands of a Dragonbane brought to darkness. After that battle many dragons disappeared, many died with glory, like Fireflash and Selvmoon, and many others ran away! But all was lost! We fought one to ten, we had nothing to do with the Dragonbanes on their hands! That day many good men and Dragons were lost!" Jag sighed, her teeth were gritting and her hand was so tightly clenched that her nails dug into the black flesh.

All eyes were wide with shock, all minds knowing war was cruel, and none having lived it so close as to feel the cruel and vicious fangs tearing their souls apart. They had fought for the world, but their battles had been against one simple enemy, not agains a numerous army which made the odds turn towards the dark side.

"People took one final resolution, to travel far away, to go to another dimension, or maybe send their children. Few had the money to convince sorcerers for that, but one creature had no money, she was Oro, a copper dragon who was in charge of four hatchlings, two of her own nest, one silver and one velvet blue!" explained Jag calmly, her eyes blazing with fury.

"oh my goodness, Izzy!" gasped Yoley so abruptly that all eyes focused on her, shocked and startled.

"that's when I realized that the cause was lost, I had traveled to send my nephew away, and saw the dragons running away. Later on I heard of Kenta's desperate attempt to destroy all evil. Let me point out Kenta was the leader of Silver Dragons, the Matriarch. Her sacrifice diminished the forces of evil a great deal, but people were afraid and refused to fight any longer. The Chaos Knights and the dragons took control of the whole place!" finished Jag solemnly, shaking her head sadly.

"and your mission?" inquired Yoley hesitant, seeing the Noa's desperation and grief.

"people don't want dragons around them, they accuse them for cowards, and they blame the loss of the war in them. My mission was… well, my actual mission is to kill any Synister dragon I see!" explained Jag calmly, "so children, tell me what you are doing here!" inquired the Noa Kyre.

"we came searching for a dragon, a copper dragon called Izzy! We come from another dimension, a planet called Earth! But we will help you if you need our aid!" said Yoley excitedly, eager to participate in the recovering of this world.

"ah, no no girly, this is not your problem. Better go on in your pilgrimage and pray you don't encounter any Synister dragon or Chaos Knight. I think this war is too much for three little children!" said Jag shaking her head in a very sharp and concrete refusal.

"we're not just children!" snapped Matt angrily, standing to face the Noa Kyre.

The dog like creature stared at him dominantly, focusing her cold gaze onto the boy's bright blue eyes and letting him know he was no match for an experienced warrior like herself.

"Matt's right, we are the Digidestined!" commented Kari calmly, but unable to hide that flower of pride which bloomed strong and healthy within her.

"Digidestined?" inquired Jag focusing her eyes quickly onto the girl, yet her surprise and widdened eyes were not of curiosity but rather shock.

"it's true, we have defeated the Digital Lords, I don't think a dude who can do some advanced Magick tricks will be much of a threat for us!" said Yoley standing proudly and smiling with such a radiant smile it's brilliance competed against the fire.

A white head that shone, not pure snow but pale platinum, a silverish tone of light, was raised. The nostrils sniffed the air gently, taking in the pleasant fresh breeze. The eyes were violet, and reflected the moon itself, but not only that but the many stars and all light of the universe, all of it was contained inside the glossy orbs. The large body was covered in fur, thin and velvety hair, including the wings. This appendices, each finger, was finished in an elongation of fur, which made the dragon looked like a star if his wings were raised high.

"what do you sense Quicksilver?" inquired a young, manly voice.

"changes!" was the only answer, a misterious fog that floated lazily in the air, letting the other creature imagine whatever he wished concerning the dragon's response.

"what type of changes!" inquired the second voice patiently, yet huffing and sighing bored.

"the pressence of new creatures in Becenykan!" Quicksilver said never looking at the other animal.

"new creatures?" inquired the second voice, shifting nervously over his sharp claws, and staring at the dragon through his black eyes.

Quicksilver looked down at the other dragon, his eyes shinning mistically, "the saviour of Becenykan have arrived, Blaze!" finished the animal smiling solemnly, and retreating his misterious veil.

To Be Continued…

AN: ok, here is a new chapter. I know this one must have been boring, but there were many things that had to be explained. I hope you are enjoying it, because I am enjoying writing it. Oh, and please leave a review if you think necessary. I repeat, all this will be much cleare if you read COPPER BLAZE, because this is the sequel. I have also many surprises prepared for this, some you can imagine, others you wont I guess, anyways here are a few questions to see what people think:

- Who is that misterious Werewolf that appears in Copper Blaze and saves Yoley?

- Why is Kari having those dreams?

- What do you think Kari is?


	4. Broken Heart

Morning dawned fresh and cool, the sun's rays gleaming welcoming and warm over the small woodlands. The crescent moon was still fighting her place in the sky, hence loosing her night weakness to the flaming courage of the sun. Matt inhaled a deep breath, stretching himself loud and long, expanding his muscular arms like wings. Suddenly he stopped dry, sniffed the air for a while longer, and sighed lightly. The boy could feel his mouth watering lightly, hungrily, but shrugged it off.

Matt walked down the steps that lead to the small cottage, and paced over the ground lightly. He heard nervous neighs, stomping of hooves on the ground, and the nervous rustle of manes. Three magnificent equines stood before him, glancing at the boy's presence sideways, trusting little, yet maintaining their place calmly. One was a vivid chestnut, the colour of flaming copper, the other, a mare, was tall and black like the deepest onyx, and the third one was a roan grey, turning a glazing blue like a starry sky, sparkled with paleness here and there.

"Good morning!" chirped the dog girl, grinning at the boy through her white fangs.

"Eh, hello there…" Matt saluted without much conviction, too focused on the three equines, and realizing the dragon was nowhere to be seen.

"Like 'em?" inquired the girl through a sharp accent.

"Yeah, they are… nice animals, what are they for?" Matt inquired raising an eyebrow.

"They are for your!" Jag exclaimed with surprise, "How are you planning on continuing your journey without horses?" she pointed out.

"Er… walking I guess, we are kind of used to that, you know?" Matt said grinning with affirmation.

"You don't know how to ride?" Jag inquired worriedly, "None of you?" she insisted upon reading the boy's silence.

"I have a little more practice, seeing how I have ridden on my Digimon's back, but I highly doubt Kari or Yolei have ever ridden one of these!" Matt pointed out shrugging.

Jag sighed deeply and shook her head with desperation. This was going to be a long day, her mission could wait. Deep inside she knew it would be wiser to let the children on their own, but somehow she had a feeling this children were not normal. They might just be the solution to Becenykan's problems.

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"I think we should find them, guide them you know?" Quicksilver pointed out through his misty voice.

"If they are so special, wouldn't they know how to do that themselves?" the other voice inquired.

"They might, but they are new here, they are disoriented, Blaze!" Quick pointed out glancing at the other man through wide eyes.

"Look, Quick, not even YOU know what they are supposed to do! How are we going to guide them correctly?" Blaze passed a nervous hand through his flaming head.

"Because they hold the key…" hissed the boy, playing with loose strands of his silver hair.

"The key to what?" Blaze was exasperated.

"Saving our planet!" Quicksilver grinned again, his bright blue eyes sparkled mysteriously.

Blaze raised his hands to the wind, snorting with anger. He hated when the dragon spoke in oracle like terms, simply because he hated not knowing what was going on. Leaping off the cliff they were seated on, the human figure exploded in a brightness of light and fired, and the enormous dragon soared through the sky.

"Come on then, lets find these children!" bellowed the copper dragon at the elven figure sitting on the cliff, smiling amusedly.

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In the depth of a castle, in the gloomy darkness of the most penetrating shadows, hidden between the sharpest and most terrible stones, in the heart of a bald mountain, lived the most terrible sorcerer of all times. Rakesh's face was illuminated by the bluish glow of his crystal orb, his bony, pale hands waving over the object with mastery. An evil grin broke his lips, revealing sharp fangs in his mouth. Inside the orb glowed the images of three children, melting with the reflections of two dragons flying.

"Ah, Jaguar, so you are still determined to destroy me, aren't you, treacherous bitch? First the dragons, and now three children? How much lower can you go?" the man sneered at the smiling face of a dog woman.

"And Quicksilver, what does your mother want this time? It is useless, I will always be more powerful than she is! Definitely more powerful than you. What have you planned out now?" The sorcerer inquired at the ball, his sneer becoming a disgusted hiss.

Rakesh pulled away from the orb abruptly, with disgust, and tossed the pedestal away, making the delicate object tumble perilously. He glanced into the depths of the shadows and inhaled a deep breath. Truly he was too cocky, but deep inside he had a terrible feeling about the mysterious arrival of this children, and the dragon a few years ago.

"Nigra, Shadow!" called the sorcerer into the depths.

A rustle was hear, the chiming of scales, the knocking of claws hitting the stony pavement. Two pairs of amber eyes glimmered in the darkness, and a hiss could be heard echoing in the vast room.

"My lord?" hissed one voice, a snake like sound mixed with a lionish rumble.

"Nigra, go to Cyma Arpbenh, stop this children, by no means you must let them get close to Aberyn. Shadow, stop the dragons, don't let them get to the children in time!" Rakesh was slightly nervous, but his orders were firm, and accepted no discussion.

"Yes lord!" Nigra said beaming, while her brother accompanied her gesture.

Both then leap into the open sky through a gap in the ceiling, built specially for them. Two enormous dragons, black like the night, glided and flew into the inmensity of Becenykan.

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It had been a hard day for Jag, as it had been for the digidestined. However, by the end of it, the Noa Kyre smiled with pride, and the children could gallop with ease, and maintain themselves on the horses, precariously, yet with balance, when leaping. The warrior had sent Matt and Kari to search for wood, although there was enough for the whole night. She wanted to speak with the girl, there was more to it than what they had spoken.

"It's a nice night, right Jelly?" Jag pointed out distractedly, stirring a cauldron that had been placed on the fire.

"It's Yolei, and yeah, it's a nice night!" the girl shrugged off her comment.

"Look, I know there is more to it than what you have told me, I might help you!" Jag looked up through her grey eyes, placing them over the girl's brown ones.

"There is more to what?" Yolei inquired glancing at the wolf girl, taking her eyes off the flame.

"Why are you here, and why are you searching for Copper Blaze?" Jag looked slightly severe, but calm and tranquil, her hand stirring the cauldron.

"You know him?" Yolei's voice was raised, excited, and she nearly fell over when her knees sprang her body upwards.

Koe was curled on a ball, dozing lightly. She opened one amber eye and stared at the two women speaking, her curiosity being attracted.

"I do, I am a Dragon Knight after all!" Jag took a slight zip of the soup she was cooking, grimacing she dropped a herb in the cauldron, "tell me everything!" she urged.

"Well, it all happened like this…" Yolei began to relate everything, the way she met Izzy, the Digidestined, how she fell in love with him, the way she discovered his secret, when he left and how she found a way to get here.

"I see!" Jag commented once Yolei had finished her story, stopping her stirring and taking the cauldron out of the fire to let it cool.

"Well, that is all what happened!" Yolei shrugged, yet her eyes stared at the woman with attention and hopes.

"Can I see the digital device?" Jag inquired studying the story with attention.

"Sure!" the woman showed it to her, too focused in her desires to think about something as useless and futile as was her digital device here.

Jag studied the object with attention, clicking the buttons, turning it around and shaking it lightly. Nothing happened, the item remained still and silent as it always was, unless Yolei wanted it otherwise. The Noa Kyre handed it back to the girl and smiled lightly, emitting a sigh.

"So you love him!" Jag inquired glancing at the woman with a wide smile.

"Yes, more than you can imagine!" Yolei smiled dreamily at the dog girl, now they were speaking her language.

Koe shifted in her sleep once again, and a deep rumble echoed in her throat.

"But you know he is a dragon, and you are human, right? Such union is impossible." Jag was very serious now.

"What do you mean?" inquired the girl shakily, her hand playing with a strand of violet hair.

"I mean a dragon and a human can never be. Gynaro created males and females of each specie for one reason. He might love you, more than he could ever love any dragon female, but sooner or later he is bound to break your heart. Blaze will feel the need to be with a female of his specie, to mate and go on with the specie, and you can do nothing to avoid it!" Jag was gentle in her words but each syllable stabbed Yolei's soul like a flaming blade.

"NO! You're wrong! I'm sure Izzy will never do anything like that!" Yolei spat at the woman angrily, clenching her fists so tightly her knuckles turned pale white.

"Yolei, calm down!" snapped Jag raising her black palms.

"No, I'm sure he still loves me!" Yolei commented painfully, now she had calmed down, yet tears had began to flow down her cheeks.

"Yolei, you can't stop it." Shooed Jag, embracing the girl tightly, and letting her cry in her leather vest. "You can't stop it unless you are a dragon." The Noa Kyre remarked gently.

"A dragon?" Yolei's cries stopped, and the former digidestined pulled away to look at the woman. "Can you make me a dragon?" the girl inquired timidly.

"Me? Oh no, I'm not a sorceress! But I know someone who might be able to help you!" Jag's eyes glimmered mysteriously.

Yolei felt herself float, happier than she had ever been. There might be a hope for her after all, a hope to be with that boy she loved with all her heart. Even if it meant sacrificing her humanity.

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"Matt, we should go back, we are a little far!" Kari pointed out nervously, glancing into the shadows and seeing eyes blending with the darkness.

She hated the darkness, it was something so terrible, so charming and scary at the same time. The girl inhaled a deep breath and sprinted towards Matt, yelping lightly with fear at the creepy darkness crawling behind her. Matt kept walking without even looking at the girl, his eyes fixed into the path they were following. Both suddenly emerged into the refreshing coolness of brightness, clarity and light.

Kari gasped with surprise. They had broken the barrier of shadows and darkness, and walked straight into a very high cliff. They could see everything from such height, the whole continent, vast extensions of green land, forests and valleys washed by the tender light of an almost full moon. Very thin columns of smoke floated into the sky, spread and vanished by the wind. Matt looked to his left, curiously, drinking everything he was seeing, recording them into his memory. The moon light rippled in the ocean, and Matt felt his breath leaving him. There was this new feeling in him, some nostalgia and sadness that was drowning him viciously. The sea inspired him so much calm and beauty, and so much grief at the same time. He almost felt as if he was seeing an old friend for the first time in many, many ages.

"Matt, what is that?" inquired Kari's voice, tremulous and fearfully.

Matt broke his gaze from the sea, much effort made to manage this. The boy looked at Kari, her arm extended, and index finger pointing forward, into the depths of the continent. Matt followed her gaze, her direction, and held in a ragged gasp.

To Be Continued…

AN: OK here comes another chapter. I know it took me a long, long time to update, but people just didn't seem much interested, and when I realized they were, the ideas had just vanished from my head. I am a little more focused now however. Well, I hope you are liking it. I want to thank however to all of those people who insisted in the continuing of this story, because those are who made it possible.

Theatrical Trailer:

(For those who like Final Fantasy X)

'What happens when someone you love...'

"THundaga!" Rikku bellowed.

A lighting is shot, which hits a white Vihur (reptile monster) square in the chest. The fiend falls down and stands up, shaking his head. The animal's eyes open to reveal a pair of blue eyes.

'…Returns to you in the body of an animal?'

"It is you!" Rikku yells, hugging the fiend, who hugs her back.

'What happens when you discover he can become human?'

The vihur leaps forward. There is a bright glow and Tidus appears. Rikku tosses him his old sword and the boy lashes at a Fang.

"We will find a way to make this permanent!" Rikku says softly, patting the Vihur's sad face.

Next scene we see the two entering a tower. A handsome young man, High Priest of the tower of Magic, salutes them.

"Welcome to Mirage. I am Laethos!" the man says with a smile.

Change Scene.

"There is a way to make you human forever, Tidus, but you might also loose your life!" Laethos explains.

"Tell me how!" Tidus pleads.

Change Scene.

"Why are you always doing this?" The vihur spats angrily at Laethos. "How can you know me better than I know myself?" Laethos looks away.

'How far will you go for love?'

"Rikku…" Tidus whispers, seeing the girl dancing with Laethos.

Change Scene.

"I must go to Zanarkand, and try to become human, if I don't I'm going to loose her forever!" Tidus murmurs.

He is seen running into the darkness of the forest, while saying this.

Change Scene.

"I'm having this strange dreams…" Tidus explains.

There is a scene about Zanarkand in the past, the face of a very pretty woman with a gentle smile. Then we see a meeting of people around a fire.

"This is the only way to save Spira!" one man dressed in black points out, while the rest nod.

Change Scene.

"Tidus!" Rikku's voice screaming.

We see a human Tidus fighting an enormous dragon, while a golden eagle is flying towards the ruins of Zanarkand. The next thing we see is the white Vihur being hit by the dragon's claw, and the animal falling down. The reptile raises his head and sees himself reflected in a mirror. Tidus' eyes widen, and he inhales.

Letters flash in silvery white over a black background, slithering like a fog.

HUMAN SPIRIT

"We are not so different, Tidus." Laethos' voice says, while Tidus stares at him without understanding.

Now Playing at your favourite Fanfiction Site!


	5. Black Threat

A large shadow was outlined against a velvet blue sky. The powerful being held the wings stiff, erect, gliding lower and lower towards the children. A long neck sustained a large, sharp head, crowned with fangs as large and razor as blades. It was a dragon, an enormous, black dragon, with a fin of thorns running down her neck.

"RUN!" Matt howled all of a sudden, recognizing the nature of the monstrous beast.

Kari didn't have to think about it one second longer than necessary. The open jaws, the flaming glimmer in the dark grotto's depths. She had been familiar with dragons for a brief period of time, and she knew this was nothing to joke about. The black dragon heading for them was, by far, the biggest creature she had ever seen.

The two began racing towards the camp, their legs carrying them with as much speed as their muscles could gather. Fortunately it was a descent, and even then Kari's lungs began to ache strangely, as a feeling of peril crawled on the back of her head. Matt motioned fearfully at her, urging her with silent words to keep running. Kari obeyed, and although her lungs were so strangely cold they seemed about to explode, and her breathing was far from laboured, she kept running.

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Jag's lance began to glow with a pale haze of luminosity. It was like a bluish mist hugging the metallic object, caressing the strong weapon with some sort of motherly care. The Kyre's eyes widened, and her features soon changed from a calm, almost hopeful tranquillity, to a sudden fear and surprise. The female stood up, dropping down her cloak and caring little for it.

"Dragon!" she hissed at Yolei, motioning at her to remain silent.

Koe pricked her ears and raised her head only enough to stare at the Kyre. Her amber eyes glanced at the female expectantly, waiting, frozen like a statue and emitting not a single sound. Yolei stared at Jag with an inquiring glance, her Digidestined experience was enough to let her know she had to remain very silent. The kyre motioned at her to approach her silently, to cross past the cover of leaves and avoid the fire. Yolei stared at the fire insinuating.

"I know!" the female noted, staring at the devouring flames with apprehension.

"The camp will mark our position!" Yoley whispered urgently.

"That's the point." Jag commented in a silent whisper, "Now listen to me and do everything I'm telling you without an excuse!" Jag's words were firm and severe, as was her feline expression.

"Fine…" hissed Yolei in a broken voice.

"Take a horse, and gallop at full speed towards the east! Don't stop by no means, and don't leave the foliage unless it's strictly necessary, understood?" Jag said motioning at the three equines, which were snorting and pawing the ground nervously.

"But what about Matt and Kari?" Yolei snapped a little louder, now fearful for her friends.

"Yolei! Just do it!" Jag urged her on while sprinting towards the copper coloured dragon.

Yolei raced towards the horses, which were still with the saddle and reins on, fortunately. She might have chosen the chestnut one, in memory of her beloved Izzy, whose hair as well as scales were the brightest copper. However, her logical mind realized that a horse with such a vivid colour would be very visible, specially from the heights. Against her will she mounted on the black mare, rested shakily on her back, gripped the reins tightly, and kicked her sides to urge her on. The beast started at a full gallop, and vanished in the woodland's depths.

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The two dragons were flying through the night skies. The two reptiles were gliding without any worry. The sky was fresh, and clear, and the stars glimmered brightly. So dark and vast were the depths of the sky, the two beasts didn't see the threat until it had plunged on them in a treacherous ambush. They had time to hear a whistling sound, the rustling of wing against an enormous surface of leather cloth.

The two animals looked up, this time more preoccupied, yet still curious, wondering about the source of such noise. Pain hit the silver's back as a darkness as big as himself plunged over him, colliding against his bones with all his strength. Quicksilver emitted one pained shrill and staggered, falling down momentarily.

The black dragon sneered viciously when the silvery white managed to recover his flight and face him valiantly. Blaze observed them, ready to enter fight against the black beast.

"Shadow!" bellowed Quick angrily, still feeling the pain on his back and making a titanic effort to maintain his wings flapping.

"Your reflexes are getting worse, Son of a Worthless Goddess!" Shadow sneered again, his yellow eyes glowing angrily as his horns rattled with the shaking of his head.

"What does your lord want this time?" Blaze growled at the black reptile.

"Stay out of this, Blaze!" Quick bellowed at the copper.

"But Quick…" Blaze whimpered in protest.

"No!" Quick was speaking briefly, without explanation, yet his eyes were glimmering with meaningful glances.

"Why won't you let me help you?" The dragon growled frustrated.

"GO!" Quick was sharp and concise.

Giving the copper no time for reproaches, the grand white plunged forward, towards the large black. Shadow roared defiantly and pounced towards the attacking reptile. Claws clashed in the air, fangs bit flesh, and a rain of bicromatic scales and crimson blood poured to the ground.

With a last whimper, the smaller copper turned around and fled, flying rapidly towards their destiny.

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The two friends were exhausted, and their legs could carry them no longer. Close to the camp, the two collapsed on the ground, and allowed themselves to lay there, waiting submissively for their death. Matt hugged the girl tightly, attempting to protect her with his body, as futile as it was. The black shadow was falling upon them like a huge prey bird. A roar filled the air, followed by an acute shrill. The shadow vanished from its threatening position over the two.

"Are we dead?" Kari asked fearfully, unable to gather the courage to look up.

"No, look!" Matt pointed upwards at the sky.

Kari looked up rapidly, eager to see their saviour. The two of them never counted on the events that where to happen. Their faces met only inches apart, their eyes locked for brief moments. For an instant, nothing was happening. The world had diluted into nothingness, leaving only the bubble they were at. The distance diminished as the two closed the gap.

A pained roar filled the air. The two broke apart, and suddenly became very conscious of the situation. Matt stood up and aided Kari on her feet, tugging at her to continue running.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, urging her on.

Kari obeyed again, her lungs still aching, although not as much as a short while ago, when she was positive they would explode.

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The forest broke into a million pieces, and a flaming blur emerged from it. The black dragon hissed like a snake. A deep, thundering roar filled the night as the copper beast expanded her wings to their max extension, and charged towards the black shadow. The collision was violent, and the two dragons hurled towards the ground in a twister of claws, fangs and tongues of fire. Jag took her chance to try and stab the lance on the dragon's heart. The movement was violent, as all fights were, and the lance kept shaking back and forth, yet she tried with all her might to stab it on the black dragon's chest. Jag plunged forward.

Koe used her chance and managed to get rid of the deadly hug, and flapped her wings to avoid the beast. Nigra hissed angrily and flapped her wings, untangling herself from a net of twigs, branches and leaves. The beast breathed out a powerful blast of fire, which caught Koe flat on the chest. The reddish dragon emitted a painful roar, and felt herself stagger on her flight.

"Land!" Jag commanded, patting the flaming dragon on the neck tenderly.

"NEVER!" Koe roared and extended her wings wider, flapping strongly to maintain her flight.

Nigra had untangled herself from the branches that had her hind quarters trapped. Using her enormous, leathery wings, the monstruous reptile had began to fly away from the battlefield. Koe started to follow her, gasping, her breathing laboured, and several whimpers escaped her throat.

"You are badly injured!" Jag whimpered pleadingly.

"I can't let her escape!" Koe bellowed angrily, emitting a defiant roar at the darkness before her.

"I can't let you sacrifice your life like Fireflash did!" Jag tugged on the dragon's mane furiously.

"I'm not my father!" Koe shook her backs in fury, threatening to throw Jag off of her.

"Even he succumbed to Nigra!" Jag kept protesting, infuriating the dragon further.

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The fight against Shadow was, to say the least, very splendid and very brief. Quick's injured back made him work triple to fly, hence he became exhausted very soon. The white threw a well aimed bite to the black's neck. Shadow evaded it easily and turned on the air, hitting Quick square on the left wing with his powerful tail. Quicksilver emitted a loud roar. The bone was broken, and the fall was irremediable. Loosing completely his ability to fly, the silver dragon fell towards the ground.

"One less, now lets get those pesky children!" Shadow sneered with disgust at the silver form, heading to the ground like a stone.

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The trees broke with a loud thud. A whimper was heard, echoing from the very depths on the woodlands. Kari and Matt stopped dry on their steps. The two remained silent, their ears ready to recognize any sound. Nothing, only the rustling of leaves indicating a presence, yet nothing to reveal what it could be.

"Whatever it is, it fell from the skies!" Matt commented shrugging, "we should continue!" he suggested, eyeing the darkness with suspicion.

"Matt, it could be Koe!" Kari suggested staring at the boy with pleading eyes.

"It could be anything, Kari!" Matt commented severely.

"But what if it is Koe? What if she is injured?" Kari exclaimed with logical caring.

"Oh, all right!" the boy threw his arms to the sky in resign.

The two friends penetrated the deep foliage, and sank into the darkness. They were cautious, yet also eager to help, to see. The two emerged into the open clearing, created by the weight of an enormous body. The beast raised her head and glanced at the two friends.

To Be Continued…

AN: What did they find in the clearing? Well, it's obvious, or is it? Sorry for the terrible delay, but I was working on two other fics, one of which has turned out to be my very favourite, A Life to Live. Well, that's not an excuse, anyways. Forgive me, and I promise I'll try to get this done as soon as my studies let me.


	6. Flaming Hope

The black dragon sneered at the two children. Matt and Kari recoiled in fear, the young man placing his body before the girl, in order of protecting her. Kari felt terribly guilty, they were going to die and all because of her stupidity. The dragon coughed, and Kari saw she had a very deep wound on her chest. It was bleeding profusely, staining her black scales with a deep crimson tonality.

"You are wounded!" Kari, in her nobility, exclaimed pointing at the dragon's chest.

"Well spotted girl, but I still have enough strength to kill you two!" the dragon's voice was weak, sharp and ragged.

"We might be able to help you!" Kari suggested staring at the dragon with true concern.

Matt shot her a disbelieving glance. Kari, in her infinite nobility, was unable to think darkness reigned a being completely. She never believed that about Ken, and she was right. Unfortunately, the boy had allowed his instincts to carry the most of him.

"Stupid girl! Don't feel pity for me!" Nigra laughed at the youth, yet her yellow eyes reflected some difference in the way they stared at the two children. "In fact, don't feel pity for anybody. I can assure you others (including me) wouldn't think twice about it before finishing you!" the dragon growled, throwing her anger to the sky.

"Why are you going after us?" Matt, inflating his chest valiantly, dared to comment.

"Me? Why would I care? It's a negotiation! I'm allowed to live, as long as I do what I'm told to!" the dragon shrugged, staring at the two children with some kind of pity.

"But you will not survive through that wound, why killing us now?" Matt clenched his fist and growled, almost inhumanly at the beast.

"The Shadebane did her work well. But if I let you go, Rakesh will know, and then he will punish my brother!" Nigra seemed tormented about that prospect, and glanced at the children with slight sympathy.

"Then you have feelings!" Kari commented with a gentle smile, taking a valiant step forward.

"Yes, I have feelings!" Nigra growled almost offended, "I don't like this job, ok? But I value my life, and overall, my brother's life!" the dragon sighed shaking her horned head.

"Well?" Nigra said after a few seconds of silence, "I've given you enough time to attack me, why don't you kill me?" she motioned at the two Digidestined.

"Why would we want to kill you?" Kari inquired alarmed.

"Because if you don't do it, I will kill you. And I really don't want to do that…" the dragon sighed smiling gently, "nobody has been so nice to me in ages, but really… I love my brother over all things!" she finished, shaking lightly with apprehension.

"But how could we kill you? We are nothing but… humans!" Matt exclaimed, staggering slightly on his words.

"Don't be silly!" Nigra laughed, coughing again, "you can do little to me, honestly." The female spat at Matt, "but sincerely girl, you could kill me with a single blow!" Nigra said almost proudly.

"How?" Kari began to feel uneasy at the thought of her inheritance, of her adoption.

"You don't know?" Nigra raised her wings lightly, and stiffened her neck in surprise.

"Know what?" Matt inquired suspiciously.

"I'm sorry…" the dragon sighed, "there is no time, Chosen Girl!" Nigra inflated her chest inhaling profusely, ready to throw her tongue of fire at the two children.

Throughout that, her yellow eyes pleaded forgiveness.

A roar boomed in the night. A red blur fell upon the black dragon. A fanged mouth gripped the dragon's neck strongly, and the copper dragon began shaking its own head rapidly, tearing flesh, releasing blood. Nigra shrieked with pain, but Kari swore she was smiling at her.

"NO!" the young girl yelled at the other dragon, raising a hand to stop the beast's attack.

Matt took a hold of Kari, and engulfed her in a tight hug. The girl buried her face on the boy's chest, and began sobbing, moistening the youth's shirt. She knew there was no other way, but she had given Matt a lesson. Darkness can't rule completely, there is always a spark of light waiting to ignite.

The copper coloured dragon raised the powerful head and glanced at the two children. Blood was dripping from the dark, scaly lips, and staining the animal's sharp fangs. The red mane was ruffled from the flight and the attack, and a pair of deep, black orbs glanced at the former digidestined with worry.

"Are you ok?" inquired a deep, gentle voice, as the animal hopped down from the deceased black dragon's body.

Matt glanced up rapidly. His bright blue eyes stared at the enormous creature. It was then that he realized something curious about the newcomer, something that differed this dragon from their new friend's beast. The neck was thicker, not so slim and similar to a swan's. The head was also larger, and the muzzle was shorter, as well as having a shorter mane, with a deeper red colour. The beast, overall, was larger than Koe.

"Izzy?" Matt's words echoed in the darkness.

The dragon grinned lightly and nodded with his head, licking the blood away from his lips.

"It's nice to see you, but how?" Izzy's roar thundered in the devastated clearing, the inquiry left floating in the air.

A moan filled the woodlands, a profound whimper of pure pain. Matt turned his head to look at the darkness in which such horrible premonition bloomed. Izzy and Kari also turned to glance into the darkness.

"I'm afraid that story will have to wait!" Matt said glancing at the dragon seriously.

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Yolei's horse galloped at full speed, escaping the flying danger which was lurking behind her, the shadows from her fearing mind. The animal snorted and stood on her hind legs, stomping several times on the ground, and ending the journey. The shaded beast shook her head, pulling at the reins.

"Come on!" Yolei urged the horse on, pressing and kicking on the animal's sides.

The horse snorted again, shaking the head wildly, and lowering it such that she was pulling on the reins. Yolei leaned over the animal rather dangerously, threatening to fall down.

"Please… the dragon will reach us!" Yolei whimpered, tears were falling down her cheeks.

The girl placed her hand inside her pocket, and dragged out her digital device. She glanced at it with nostalgia, willing so deeply to be able to use it, and to have her faithful Hawkmon with her.

"I can't go on…" said a voice in the woodlands.

Yolei leapt from her position over the animal's back, and glanced around apprehensively, fearful. Everything in this world was so different, so alien, and this time there was no Izzy to guide her.

"The dragon will not reach you, he is far away!" a gentle, soft voice floated from the darkness.

The young girl was on her nerves already. She turned around, focusing on the source of the sound, her movement was abrupt and quick. By act of instinct, the woman aimed at the newcomer with her digital device. A warmth spread from her arm, to the tips of her fingers. It was somewhat comforting, yet also rather exhausting for some reason. The touch with the digital device came rougher, perhaps because her hand was damaged slightly from the contact with the leather reins.

A ball of fire erupted from the place where her hand was situated. It illuminated the woodlands, and the frightened, gentle face of a young man. Fortunately, the youth collapsed on the ground, and was fortunate enough as to evade the attack. Several sparks, the glimmer of various ignitions, and a few minuscule flames illuminated the woodlands.

"Ah… mage!" the youth said with a gasp, standing to a sitting position, "Should have thought about it twice before introducing myself to a mage." The man commented shrugging, as if the attack lacked importance.

"I am not a mage…" Yolei gasped, shaking her head weakly, barely a slight tremble.

"No, of course not. That's why you are carrying a staff!" the young man pointed at the woman's hand.

"Staff? This it not… any…" Yolei's voice faded into the nightly wind.

Indeed, there, resting placidly, was a wooden object. It was long, and looked like a rather thick twig. The head was finished on a spiral, and it had a blazing orb, illuminating the area with a pure, bluish light. The staff was long, being metre and half big. With a yelp, the girl let the staff fall down to the ground. The light flickered and faded, drowning the place back into the darkness of the shadows.

"Curious…" commented the mysterious youth, glancing at the place where the staff had fallen with curiosity.

"What was that? Why don't you shut your mouth and leave me alone?" yelled the young female, pointing at the darkness with an accusing finger.

"Relax! I'd love to go, you see? But I'm a little bit wounded and I will not be able to walk." The man answered shrugging, and leaning calmly against a tree.

"How do I know you aren't here to try and kill me?" Yolei was the less trusting person ever, and this stranger would not make an exception.

"Kill a mage? How crazy do you think I am?" the youth commented shrugging, and a shadow of a smile appeared in his lips.

"I am not a mage!" Yolei snapped rather sharply, glaring at the shadow form.

"Come on, I saw the…" the youth's protest died in the night. "How peculiar!" the newcomer commented in a soft voice.

"What?" Yolei was now curious, as well as startled by the boy's reaction.

"Look at that! Your staff became some odd device!" the boy was marvelled by the discovery.

"My Digital Device!" Yolei leapt down the mare and knelt on the floor to hold the precious object.

"Your what?" the boy inquired oddly, tilting his head.

"Oh… it really is a long story… and I don't think you will understand it." The girl argued with a pleaser smile.

"Well, let's light a fire to heat up, you can tell me!" the man suggested, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Wait!" Yolei snapped severely, "I still don't trust you!" the girl hissed carefully.

"Oh, get a grip!" the man was exasperated now, "Pyros!" he commanded to nobody in special, extending his hand before the ground.

A spark began to glow gently. Soon, a flame was flickering into a warm and comforting substitute for a room and a bed. The young boy smiled proudly at the girl, and Yolei's heart skipped a beat with surprise. The youth was slim, slender yet with musculature. His face was thin, with childish features, the pure skin of a baby, pale and soft like silk. The lips were not too thin, nor too fleshy, making his grin as sweet and gentle as a caramel cream. The youth's eyes sparkled blue, so bright and pure they glanced at the girl with great knowledge, yet great wisdom. His ears were oddly shaped, pointed at the end. Strands of golden hair fell upon the strong back and shoulders, and shorter strands framed his face. There was somewhat a silver glaze upon the boy's silky and soft mane.

"Heat up. I won't go any near if you don't want me to." The boy shrugged, pointing at the wide flame licking some logs, which had magically appeared.

"Are you a mage?" Yolei kneeled before the fire, and extended one hand over it, while the other one guarded the digital device back in her pocket.

"Me? Oh not, definitely not!" the boy looked almost offended.

"Then what are you?" the girl looked at the boy up and down, slim figure, pointy ears and golden hair.

"I'm an elf!" the boy inflated his chest proudly, and smiled at the girl, "my name is Silven!" the boy smiled.

"I'm Yolei…" the girl said more tranquil, while motioning at the boy to come and join her.

With a grateful smile, the young elf limped until he reached the flame. Hungrily, he devoured the heat, trying to warm up his frozen body. Yolei observed that the boy's left leg was broken, and there were various scratches and gashes here and there. They had stopped bleeding, but stains of crimson damped his white shirt and forest green pants.

"What happened to you?" the girl asked rather concerned.

"I saw the dragon, but my horse saw it before I did. Lets say I was thrown off violently." The boy tried not to enter in details about such shameful damage. "Anyways, tell me about yourself!" the boy questioned changing topic abruptly.

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Koe was laying painfully on the ground. Her chest was sore, the scales had fallen off revealing a crimson red skin below. It was badly burnt, and her breathing was laboured. The large male moaned, and began nudging at her head. Koe emitted a soft whimper and touched the male's muzzle with her own, humid nose. With a shriek, her head fell again, and a fit of coughs attacked her to increase her suffering.

"Koe…" grumbled the large male.

"The black attacked us, Izzy." Jag explained, relating the battle in quick words.

"Izzy? You knew him? You knew we were looking for him and you didn't say anything!" Matt spat at the Noa Kyre offended, and angered.

Jag stepped back, while the large dragon observed them cautiously. The Noa Kyre seemed attacked, as if she had been caught in the act.

"There is an explanation to all this!" the female wolf stuttered, wagging her tail nervously.

"Well, you better begin!" growled Matt in a guttural, animalistic sound.

"Matt!" barked the large dragon, standing stronger and prouder than he had ever been.

The boy seemed intimidated by the much stronger presence of the beast. Hence, he relaxed and calmed down, acting civilised enough to listen.

"Listen… I lied to you, but only because I wanted to protect you!" whimpered the Noa Kyre fearfully, looking at the children with sincerity. "There is a prophecy!"

AN: OK, there comes another chapter. This is taking shape finally. Well, are you liking it? Are you not? I hope to continue this from now on. Now that I have finished several of my projects, one of which was a very dedicated one. Well, please review, and thank you to my faithful readers!


	7. The Prophecy

"I was a dragon slayer. I killed dragons for a living, any dragon without distinction. One day a landlord paid me a large amount to kill a certainly tough dragon. How would I know that dragon would change my life." Jag shook her head sadly.

"The dragon accompanied me through my journey, in the disguise of a red headed man. Inevitably, I fell in love, and he fell in love too. When he revealed his true self, I wanted to kill him, and to love him, and to cry and die, for the love of a dragon can never be." Jag whimpered gently, yet contained herself.

Izzy lowered his enormous head, looking ashamed.

"However, Fireflash said he couldn't leave me. A war was brewing in the continent, and we had heard rumours about the existence of a Shadebane. We looked for it, found it and flew towards battle. Fireflash said he was there to guide me, because there was a prophecy about me:

Shadow of frozen eyes.

Your destiny must be forged,

For the son of the moon,

The hidden daughter,

And the wyrms of night and day,

To triumph against darkness you shalt guide." The girl recited calmly.

"I was destined to guide the dragons to battle, and defeat the hords of Rakesh. But the prophecy was wrong. We fell. Fireflash never made it out of that battlefield, and I was saved because his enormous body allowed me cover." Jag's eyes were swollen, and tears were falling fluently down her cheeks.

"But what has everything got to do with us?" Matt inquired, glancing at the grieving dog.

"We are not sure, but this prophecy was made by Argenta, the Mistress of all dragons. Her prophecies never fail." Izzy explained, looking at the two children with excited eyes.

"But why us?" Kari inquired fearfully.

"Argenta also made a second prophecy not long ago. The war and chaos will come to open the heart and mind, and the saviours of Becenykan will arrive." Izzy mustered, looking at the two children with excited eyes.

"You honestly think WE are the saviours of Becenykan?" Matt snapped, staring at Izzy incredulously.

"I was hopping it wouldn't be any of you… but we have saved the Digital World twice… it could be." The large dragon nodded, then turned his head to look at the agonizing dragon on the ground.

"She's very grave!" Jag commented softly, tears were on her eyes.

"Koe…" Izzy's eyes glimmered with love and affection, sadness and worry extended a veil of darkness across them.

A loud, threatening shriek filled the ground. Nigra's corpse had been discovered.

"We have to get out of here!" Izzy hisses softly, glancing at the female dragon sadly.

"Go!" Jag hisses urgently, "I'll take care of her!" the female Kyre knows that if the black dragon decided to come, little could she do to protect their lives.

Izzy knew that too. He was not an idiot, but this was the way things worked. A sacrifice for the safety of a whole planet. This children were far more important than the three of them together. Nodding, the dragon motioned at his two friends to ride his back.

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"And now I'm looking for a boy… er… dragon, well… his name is Izzy, or Copper Blaze, and he is a copper dragon!" Yolei explained excitedly, her skin was red from the emotion of relating her story.

"Copper Blaze? Interesting name, but I don't know any dragon." Silven explained, shrugging. "Anyways, you do know that a dragon and a human can never be, right?" the boy said so seriously, his blue eyes fixed on the girl's chestnut ones.

"I do, but that's the point. I'm going to become a dragon!" the woman said with a happy grin on her face.

"You are what?" Silven was, to say the least, petrified.

"Become a dragon. I've heard of someone who has the magic to do that!" Yolei explained calmly.

"But Gynaro made you human for some reason, you can't pretend to go against his designs!" Silven was alarmed.

"But I love him!" Yolei complained.

"I know it hurts, but that is not the solution!" the elven boy explained, as horror struck as he was.

"I don't care what you think. I'm leaving!" Yolei bellowed, standing up angrily, fuming, and beginning to walk towards her horse.

"Where to? You don't know this land!" the elf inquired alarmed.

"It can't be too hard finding a creepy island lost in the ocean. I'll just need to reach the next port!" Yolai argued wisely.

"For the love of Gynaro, this is Becenykan! The land is vast, and the ocean is vaster. Rakesh reigns this place with dragons, knights and darker creatures. You will never make it there alive!" the elven boy argued.

"And I believe you are going to guide me." Yolei was already placing one foot on the stirrup.

"Definitely. I would not be a proper gentlelf if I allowed a fair lady like you to leave alone. By the way, I could teach you magic, young mage." The elven boy smiled smartly at the girl, making her heart skip a beat again.

"I said I'm not a mage!" Yolei snarled again, turning to retrieve her foot from the stirrup.

"Are you sure?" Silven inquired, glancing at the crackling coals thoughtfully.

With a rapid movement, the boy picked a coal and threw it flying across the air. Aimed to the woman's head, and fired by elven hands, the reddish ignition was bound to collide straight. Yolei released her foot from the stirrup and turned around, as rapid as if the enormous black dragon was breathing down her neck. Extending her hand before her, determination drawn in her face, sparkling, bluish ice was released from her open palm. The ice engulfed the coal, cooling it, and finally extinguishing the fire inside when the coldness melted into water.

"You see?" Silven said with a sided smile, grinning knowingly.

Yolei was breathing heavily. She was completely stunned, and tiredness was attacking her. It was simply impossible, she could have never done this, it was just crazy. She was a normal girl, in a normal family, and had been born in a normal world. Magic was simply one of those weird things everyone wanted to do, and nobody could. Thinking back to Izzy, Yolei realized the normality of her situation. She was in love with a dragon, had a friend with crazy dreams, another with a shameful secret, and who knew what happened to the rest. Perhaps the idea of being a mage was not so crazy.

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Jag was very still. Her small, slender body stood before the agonizing dragon's body. Lance gripped tightly on her sweating hands, the Noa was tensing her muscles and getting ready to strike with the deadly weapon. A sniffing sound was heard, a grumbling, a slight roar echoing in the very depths on an enormous neck.

The ceiling of leaves exploded with the sparkling ignition of a copper coloured blur. A blaze flew up in the air, rapid and quick like the haze of a light. Shadow lifted his head and roared. His destiny was escaping, his sister's murderer was fleeting with the children. With a booming thunder, the dragon burst the woodlands and glided after them.

"He is coming!" yelled Kari fearfully.

"Don't worry, he will never reach us!" the smaller dragon explained pridefully.

Such it was. The black reptile glided away after the distance became so vast it was unbearable. Even then, the dragon never stopped his flight. Izzy was determined to guide the two children safely towards the nearest city, perhaps avoid the persecution that what occurring.

"Izzy!" yelled Matt, calling the animal's attention.

"What?" the dragon roared to make himself be heard.

"Land! Land and lets camp! We will leave tomorrow morning." Matt was eager, and a slight pain seemed to echo in his voice.

"But why?" Izzy inquired, in union with Kari's feebler words.

"Just… do it! I have some urgency!" gasped the youth, gripping the dragon's mane tighter.

Something was happening. Izzy could smell Matt's maleish scent. It was a strong, dominant odour, and was growing stronger by the second. His instincts would have urged him to turn around and bite the boy's head off. Logically that would simply be stupid and brute. He chose to descent, a stop couldn't do them so much bad, and he could also take a good rest, since he had flown through the whole night.

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"Fine, you can come with me!" Yolei surrendered to the boy's charms. "But you WILL teach me magic." She pointed out severely.

"Don't fear, you will have the best master, and best protector!" the elf placed a hand to his chest while straightening with pride.

"I really doubt that!" Yolei muttered, eyeing the gangly body, the slim muscles, and the boyish structure. "Anyways, you have to cure that leg!" the woman realized, pointing at the badly damaged appendage.

"Right. I just don't have enough things to cure myself!" the elf seemed somewhat hopeful as his blue eyes glanced at the woman.

"Me neither. Is the next town very far?" the woman inquired, glancing into the darkness, trying to stare past the woodlands.

"Less than half a day. But we, elves, are not welcome amongst humans!" the boy explained looking painfully affected by that.

"Come on!" Yolei sighed desperate.

The youth approached the elven boy with rapid, determined movements. Tenderly, more carefully, the girl tugged at the silvery golden hair, retiring it from its position behind the ears. The curtain of silk fell, covering the pointed ears. The elf looked at the woman with wondered eyes, his blue depths sparkling with something close to admiration. As Yolei's gaze locked with the elf's, she suddenly realized some curious discovery. His eyes were blue, yet a shadow of violet seemed to glimmer in his depths.

"Well, there you go!" Yolei said standing up abruptly.

"Oh… right, right!" Silven was momentarily disoriented, "lets go!" he urged glancing at the clearing sky.

Yolei helped the man along, letting him lean his weight on the youth. With much effort, she helped him on top of the horse. Yolei was marvelled at how light he was, considering he was male. Mounting right before him, the horse started at a light gallop across the dawning woodlands.

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Izzy, as human, and Kari, were both resting calmly next to the fire. Valiantly, Izzy truly didn't believe they would encounter any more dragons for the night being. The boy was shaking the fire tenderly, granting it a whiff of life. Matt had gone stumbling towards the forest. The urgency seemed to be very acute.

"Kari…" Izzy whispered, somewhat fearful of disrupting the girl's train of thoughts.

"Hum?" Kari looked up absently, as if just being awaken from a dream.

"You two came alone?" Izzy was incredulous at this statement.

"No, Yolei was the one to bring us here." Kari explained with a light smile, "But I don't know where she went. I believe she ran away when the dragon attacked!" the youth said calmly, unable to believe something horrible could have come to Yolei.

"Yolei?" Izzy squeaked weakly.

"Yes. She came looking for you." Kari said with a clear smiled, yet it faded rapidly as she realized the boy's tormented look.

"Kari… I…" Izzy didn't know how to start, nor if his old friends would understand that they had come pursuing an impossible.

"You don't love her any more…" Kari realized through glancing into the depths of his soul.

"I do!" gasped Izzy alarmed at the sadness he perceived in Kari, "It's just… I'm a dragon! I have a mate, Kari!" Izzy explained looking down shamefully.

"Koe?" questioned Kari knowingly, yet somewhat sadly.

Izzy simply nodded slowly, fearfully. He had his gaze fixed into the interesting flickering of the flames, where figures seemed about to appear, dancing around it.

"But you can't! She's your sister!" Kari snapped all of a sudden, realizing the dragons' identities in her dreams.

"What?" Izzy snapped glancing up alarmed, "Oh, no, no. That's impossible!" the boy was shaky, in denial.

"Why is it impossible?" Kari questioned staring straight at him, "You were too small when you were taken to Earth! You didn't have any contact with your real family!" Kari explained more agitated.

"But I love her…" Izzy moaned desperate, looking at the girl sadly.

"I'm sorry!" Kari stood up and stared at him sadly.

The young girl walked away, leaving Izzy alone with his sadness. He had a lot to think about, and Kari would just be a memory of the time he spent with Yolei. Wherever she was, the girl would be devastated when she knew her journey had been futile.

Kari interned herself into the woodlands. Doubts began to cross her. Where was Matt? She just realized he had been missing for more than half an hour, and no urgency takes that long. The girl began to look around fearfully, praying that nothing had happened to him, yet knowing something was lurking the forest. A crack, a twig snapping. Kari turned around abruptly.

The youth was now face to face with a enormous, white and golden wolf. The animal was definitely a precious being on immense beauty. It also had a mouth full of teeth, and was able to snap a bone in half with just thinking about it. The wolf's eyes were the brightest blue she had ever seen. The animal stared at her fearfully, as if he doubted whether he could approach her or not. Finally he decided upon a step forward.

Kari yelled loudly. Fear had frozen her, but it was the flame of that same fear which had ignited and melted her limbs. A sprint dragged her further into the woodlands. The wolf followed her. Kari ran as fast as she could, and that was rather fast. She finally emerged into a large clearing, which was facing a cliff. The girl stopped abruptly, the height was impossible, and the town torches flickered feebly into the distance, while chimney smokes merged with the lowest clouds.

The wolf emerged into the clearing as well, and stared at her fearfully. The animal whimpered, pawing the ground. Kari didn't attend to logical reasons, if anything in this world could be called logical, or reasonable. The girl took one step backwards, nearing the cliff's edge very dangerously. The wolf turned to face the woodland, his ears flickered lightly. Raising his head, a warning, loud howl echoed in the dawning night. It was fresh and young, and it signalled position.

Kari, startled, took a rather large step backwards. The soft ground gave in, and the feeble platform she had been standing at vanished from under her weight. The youth's body toppled over the edge and began falling down like a rock. Kari screamed, but her yell was blown away.

To Be Continued…

AN: Ok, I liked writing this chapter. Next chapter will have MANY revelations, so stay tuned if you want to discover Copper Blaze's mysteries, as well as several of which are part of this story. Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers, I hope you are enjoying this story.


	8. Of Mages and Dragons

The wolf yipped and trotted towards the edge of the cliff. The small figure was retreating rapidly, falling like a weight towards the darkness. The wolf barked and whimpered with all his might, a paw trying hopelessly to stretch out and catch her. No, there was no logical way he would ever catch her without killing the both of them. A reddish blur leapt over his small, whitish figure. The large dragon straightened very much, wings closed around the body, the animal let his own body fall freely.

The wolf looked at the rising sun, then at the copper coloured dragon. Izzy was their only hope to save Kari. The wolf shook his head shamefully, if Kari died he would never be able to forgive himself.

Kari kept falling and falling. The girl had scratched her leg against the rocks at the time of her fall. The pain had been blinding at first, but now the fear was numbing her head. The youth glanced at the approaching and growing depths, since she was falling head first. Flight was the only thought crowning her mind. Somehow the thought of flying seemed perfect, if she could ever fly, of course. The fear was pressing at her veins so strongly, it felt as if a really powerful current was coursing through every fibre of her body.

Izzy's eyes opened widely. He couldn't believe his eyes. Kari's body began to glow like a star, bright, pure and brilliant. The blooming morning was illuminated by the icy white blaze. The star shattered like a block of ice, and a silver figure emerged from it, disoriented and nervous.

"Open up!" bellowed Izzy with all his might.

The other creature listened carefully. Obediently, the beast opened up a pair of enormous, leathery wings that covered a rather vast extension. The animal stopped the fall and began gliding upwards. Izzy opened his wings as well and reached the other creature's side. It was a dragon, a beautiful female dragon. Her scales were the colour of silver, so pure and bright the animal's skin glimmered like a polished statue. The eyes were chestnut, with a tint of crimson. This was Kari, without doubt.

With Izzy's guidance, the two dragons returned to the hill. The landing was troublesome, but the transformation to humanity was very easy. Kari was ecstatic, as she began yelling and questioning Izzy over and over if he had seen her.

"Oh Kari…" Matt whimpered from the solitude of one corner, staring at the woman with hopeless despair.

"Matt!" the girl leapt on him and embraced him into a tight hug.

The youth stopped her embrace all of a sudden. She pulled away to glanced at the boy with close attention. Kari examined every single inch of the boy's body, face, anything. It was odd to find him here, when he had been missing for such a long time. That what she was searching for became apparent. There, glowing perfectly round and smooth into the depths of her orbs, was a single sphere. It was the reflection of the moon trapped in the boy's eyes.

"Oh my… you are the wolf!" Kari gasped, retreating lightly from him.

Matt nodded seriously, his feral pride stronger than his fearful shame.

"I'm a werewolf." Matt corrected more seriously, "But I don't understand it. The moon wasn't full, it was crescent. Suddenly, however, it filled completely and I couldn't resist the tug!" Matt explained, staring at Izzy for answers.

"The moon here has different cycles. It also rises once a month, but when it does, it crosses all the process in twenty four hours. The result is that the moon will fill on that very same night, only to use the day to grow thin again." Izzy explained calmly, glancing at the two with curious glances.

"But why didn't you tell us?" Kari moaned displeased, tears swelling in her eyes.

"I feared you would reject me…" Matt said in a low, sad whisper, his clear eyes staring straight into Kari's.

"How could I? Izzy is a dragon! I'm a dragon too!" Kari shouted more nervous, "How could I ever reject you?" the youth inquired with a low, strangled sob.

"It doesn't matter!" growled Matt turning around, his depression growing into exasperation.

"Matt? Matt!" called Kari angrily, beginning to walk after Matt.

The youth stopped abruptly when a strong hand held her from her shoulder. Kari turned to glance at the young man, standing next to her, and staring seriously at her through his black eyes.

"I'll go talk to him, this is a… hum, men thing!" Izzy said curling a smile on his lips. "I believe you can defend yourself?" the boy chuckled, his eyes shinning brightly.

"I'll practice my dragon attack!" Kari nodded with a feeble smile, "Please Izzy, do make him come to his senses. I don't know what's wrong with him, we've gotten along fine!" the girl whimpered with desperation.

"I think I've got an idea!" the boy mumbled, while nodding with reassurance at the girl.

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The tough mare galloped freshly across the short, tundra's grass. The city was standing against the horizon, a large, dark colossus calling for the two children. Silven was gripping Yolei's waist tightly. His chin rested on the woman's tense shoulder, and his violet eyes glanced into the dawn, the iris blending with the clear luminosity. It was a beautiful scene the young elf enjoyed truly.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Silven commented with a fresh, young laughter.

"Yeah… very pretty." Yolei answered without emotion.

"What's wrong?" Silven inquired worriedly, glancing at the young woman next to him.

"I'm driving, and I'm concentrated!" Yolei spat at him angrily.

"I'm sorry…" the youth whispered into her ear in a soft, gentle voice.

Yolei tensed all of a sudden as a warm breath tickled the side of her ear. She felt pleasant goosebumps trickling down her neck. Something leapt and flipped inside her stomach, making her jump in her seating, hence making the mare change her rhythm abruptly.

"Was it something I did?" the elf questioned, still holding against her, yet trying to touch her the least possible.

"No… No…" Yolei gasped in a ragged, startled breath.

The elf himself felt something odd, like a strange pride, blooming inside him. A shadow of a smile tugged at the boy's lips. Somehow he was conscious that the girl had reacted to a certain touch, in a certain spot. Silven knew as well that the woman fancied his looks. All that united made him experiment a certain feeling of superiority, something he had never felt before.

The two reached the town when the sun was high in the sky. It was still fresh, yet the warmth spread across the streets very rapidly and comfortingly. It was a lovely place, antique and styled in medieval ages. Stone houses with straw roofs. Towers and walls surrounding the place protectively. People pacing back and forth across the small commerce. Creatures Yolei had never seen in her life. Small, thick and bearded, chatting and drinking beer. Slim Halflings trotting back and forth, little thieves stealing people's goods and money. Tall and strong knights, trying to maintain the order and the security in the main alley's fluency.

"Look at that!" Snarled Silven despising , and even then his voice was melodic and gentle, "Dwarves are welcome here, but not elves!" he added feeling insulted.

Yolei smiled gently at the elf, and couldn't hold back a snicker. It was a rather funny image, seeing the elf trying to look angry, such a handsome face. It was then that she realized that the crowd was glancing at her curiously.

"People are looking at me!" Yolei turned her face to look at the elf.

"Well…" Silven gasped lightly and moved backwards when the girl's face stood inches from his, "you are wearing funny clothes!" the elf explained with a shrug.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Yolei snapped slightly irritated.

"Nothing!" Silven added quickly, "it's just people have never seen anything like that!" the youth explained with a pleasant smile.

It was true. The girl was dressed in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a sweater and her running shoes. These people were wrapped in furs, rough clothes, tough leather and various natural cloths.

"Look! That shop will be good to get some clothes for you. Meanwhile I'll go to the alchemist to get a cure for my broken leg!" Silven said pointing at an entrance hidden behind a thick, crimson curtain.

"Will you be able to dismount?" Yolei inquired looking sceptic.

"Yes, of course. I'm an elf!" Silven said in a whisper, yet with enough pride as to remark an elf could do the impossible.

"Fine." Yolei sighed, shrugging, "If you are sure you can do it, I'll let you." The girl smirked, while she leapt off the tall horse's back.

The youth slapped the animal's haunches. Immediately, the horse galloped down the street, neighing angrily. Yolei grinned lightly at the startled elf, who was making desperate attempts to control the mare from his position, sitting right behind the saddle.

The shop was immersed in the shadows. It smelled strongly of cloth and leather, and some animal skins Yolei could not recognize. The woman saw the heads of various creatures hanging from the wall, staring at her threateningly. From frightened deer, to threatening predators, and various reptilian creatures she could not recognize. There was even a white dragon head, glaring at her through an open, fanged mouth.

"What will it be?" the shopkeeper's ragged voice inquired.

Yolei turned around startled. The shopkeeper was a small woman, old and hunchbacked, covered with a black cloak and hood.

"I'd like to get some clothing fit for me." Yolei said through a stutter, feeling shocked at the woman's presence.

"Fine, fine. Animal fibres?" the woman inquired.

"I don't know… I'm not from around here." Yolei explained feeling a tint of red staining her cheeks shamefully.

"Well, no problem. Human, I guess… your occupation?" the woman asked.

Occupation? She was a student, but Yolei highly doubted it would be a good explanation to get clothing. I believe she meant something more… traditional, like hunter, or maybe dragon slayer.

"Mage…" Yolei stuttered thoughtfully.

"Hush!" the woman coughed raggedly, glaring at her severely.

"What?" Yolei inquired shocked, this was the first time this happened to her.

"Never speak that in public, girl!" the shopkeeper said murkily.

The old woman flew towards the windows with an agility fit for does. She extended a thick cloth, much like the one in the door, over each. Pulling on a string, the two, crimson curtains fell over the dusty glass, drowning the room in a flickering darkness, illuminated with the dim life of several torches. Done that, the old woman pulled her hood back and stood up straight, tall and powerful. Indeed, this figure was so tall and powerful, it was male.

"Don't you know girl?" the man's voice was clear and strong this time, and his features were handsome.

"Know what?" Yolei asked tremulously, glancing at the man as if he was a dream.

"We are hated, almost as much as dragons." The man said pulling his long hair back.

"You are a mage…" Yolei gasped shocked, "but… why are we hated?" she inquired rapidly.

"Because Rakesh wants our essence. If he ever got news of me, or of you, Rakesh would destroy the whole city and kill everyone only to get us. He grows stronger by absorbing our magic." The mage explained looking around.

"But I don't know how to do any spell. I barely learnt I was a mage a couple of hours ago!" Yolei protested.

"Don't worry, it's not that hard, but you need a couple of things!" the mage said with a smile.

With a wave of his hand, both arms were filled with various items.

"Look. This is a leather vest, and leather, ridding pants. Boots. Handlers to protects your forearms from the spells." The man said handing them to the girl.

"Ah, here are the important things. Mage cloak. This is magical, it will allow you to become invisible at will, invisible from most creatures." The man handed Yolei a beautifully sewn cloak, which was white with crimson makings.

"And this is your spell book. Everything is in here. Use it wisely." The mage handed Yolei a thick, heavy book, with leather covers and silver letters.

"Thank you! How much do I owe you?" Yolei inquired with a large smile.

"Nothing. It's a present, from mage to mage." The mage said nodding, his blue eyes sparkled brightly.

"Thank you very much!" Yolei exclaimed, starting to head for the door excitedly.

"May Gynaro guard your steps. And may we bloom glorious like we once did!" the mage said solemnly.

Yolei nodded and stepped outside, to the clear sunlight. She looked back and saw the curtains retiring, and the old, hunchbacked woman tugging with effort at the thick cords. This was definitely one odd happening.

A black shadow galloped at a calm pace, approaching her. The young elf was mounting the beast expertly.

"Odd!" thought Yolei as she paid close attention to the rider and his horse.

To Be Continued…

AN: Ok, there comes another chapter. This is getting more interesting, isn't it? It saddens me to see there is no new review… I would like to know what people thought about it. Well, thanks a lot to those who did review, I will include my comments in the last chapter.


	9. Forbbiden Love

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Matt was sitting on a stone. His hands kept playing and tugging at the white shirt he was wearing. The bright blue orbs were now swollen and filled with grief. The youth kept rubbing noisily at the tears damping his face mercilessly.

"It's a pleasant morning, a little chilly for my taste." Said a voice behind him.

Matt rubbed his eyes rapidly, and inhaled one deep breath. Izzy sat next to him, giving him little time to regain his composure.

"Stop the formalities, I'm your friend!" Izzy spat rather frustrated.

"But I'm the tough guy!" argued Matt with a glimmer of a smirk playing in his lips.

"Please…" Izzy gasped teasingly, "tell me, what's bothering you. I really won't believe it's the whole werewolf thing!" Izzy's black eyes seek for his own, absent iris.

"Of course it's the whole Werewolf thing!" Matt snarled angrily, avoiding the youth's gaze, "What else could it be?" the man challenged.

"I don't know, her?" Izzy threw rapidly, giving Matt little time to react.

"Who?" Matt spats speedily, turning his head abruptly to focus his shocked eyes into Izzy's prideful ones.

"You love her!" the youngest snapped, suddenly interested.

"So what if I do?" Matt snarled without attempting to deny her feelings.

"What do you mean by that? You are the hot guy! The womanizer!" Izzy was, by far, more startled than he had ever been.

"Yeah, yeah, all that is very nice. But she is a dragon, I'm a hum… a werewolf. It would NEVER work!" Matt gasped, feeling his breathing ragged and laboured.

"Oh, so it's that…" Izzy said with comprehension, "but Matt, laws were made to be broken!" the youth responded wisely.

"But nature wasn't made to be skipped. There is a male and a female of each being for some reason. I never really hoped Kari would be a werewolf, but somehow I was… wishing it deeply!" Matt was again on the verge of tears, which made him turn his face away from sight with shame.

"Look, if you really love her, fight for her! True, there are some rules, but there are also some exceptions." Izzy took a hold of Matt's shoulder and forced him to look at him.

"How? The same way you fought for Yolei?" Matt snarled.

Izzy recoiled, turning suddenly very pale. His black eyes widened with surprise.

"No…" the young red headed added in a soft whisper. "That was coward…"

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The young elf was mounting the horse with expertise. It was a rather pleasant imagery to see such a galliard youth standing straight and firm on the animal's back, legs pressing at the sides gently, yet with authority. The youth smiled at Yolei with gladness as he pulled the reins to stop the strong beast.

"How did you get cured so easily?" the woman asked with suspicion.

"Alchemists make wonders!" the man sighed, rubbing his previously injured leg.

"All right. Lets go get some rest, is there a hotel nearby?" Yolei asked looking around, and catching glimpses of various taberns and inns.

"A what?" Silven inquired staring at the woman as if she had suddenly started speaking Japanese.

"A hotel, you know, a place where you pay to get a room and sleep!" Yolei spat exasperated, staring at the elven youth as if he had suddenly turned stupid.

"Ah!" exclaimed Silven with comprehension dawning his features, "right, that's an inn!" the man said vividly. "There are a lot here, in Silvercreek, come on!" the youngster urged Yolei on, extending his hand to grip her own and aid her on the tall backs of the equine.

Yolei took the offered hand with a large smile. She marvelled at the slim elf's strength when he, without much effort, pulled her upwards like a feather. Instinctively the girl gripped the man's shoulder and leaned forwards. Silven gasped lightly when his eyes contacted with Yolei's and their breathings collided against each other's lips.

"You know? I might be human, but I don't think I'm that disgraceful!" the girl spat angrily, narrowing her eyebrows at the man.

"Oh, no, it's not that, it's just I… oh… well… never mind!" the elf sighed in his stutter, unable to form the correct words.

The girl noticed a faint tint of a blush creeping up the boy's cheeks. With a slight sigh, a flutter ran across her stomach, sending a pleasant warmth through her veins. With a swift kick, the mare started trotting lively across the streets, heading towards an inn where the two could rest.

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"There is just one double room, Yolei." Silven explained looking down, rather shamefully, once the girl had arrived from the stalls.

"Oh, fantastic!" Yolei growled angrily, throwing her arms up in exasperation.

"Hey, I'm not a bad companion!" Silven looked up, his face red with anger as he glanced at the girl, "I don't snore, or move, or anything!"

Words said, the elf stormed outside. Yolei stared at the retreating figure with a guilty expression playing on her features. She had, as most, been hitting the boy with all her nastier weapons, and the youth had been so gentle and sweet with her, even offering to show her a way to find Izzy. It was true the situation was hard for her, trapped in a strange world, separated of her friends. However, that didn't excuse her behaviour.

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Darkness had matured, and Silven's humour had cooled. He had felt so insulted, and all he was doing was treating the girl with the perfection of a queen. He knew he didn't have a chance, but her terrible words rigging in her ears were hurting him so deeply. The elf sighed, gripping the place where his heart was, and several humid tears dripped down from his eyes.

Taking several deep breaths, the youth made his way across the inn's door, walked upstairs, and penetrated the frontier of the room. As soon as he opened the thick, wooden door, he was welcomed by the warm dance of a flickering flame. His violet blue eyes widened considerably, at the vision that greeted him, and his elven lips parted in an expression of shock and awe. Something in his heart shook and flipped, making it beat faster.

A young woman was standing before him, a mage. Dressed in a white cloak with a hood placed delicately around her face. Leather boots, tight, ridding pants that accentuated her curves. Her hand extended, a ball of fire dancing in her palm, illuminating her features with the gentleness of its magic.

"Silven…" Yolei said with a gasp, closing her fingers around her palm, such that the ball of fire extinguished.

"Yolei I… you… er… well…" Silven's words rippled and ran across each other nervously, still staring at the girl, immersed in darkness.

"Silven, I'm so sorry!" Yolei rushed towards him and embraced him in a tight hug.

"It's ok, Yolei. It's ok!" cooed the elf calmly, patting the girl gently and pulling her away to examine her.

"I have been so cruel towards you, and you…" Yolei gasped in between sobs, her face moist with tears.

"Why are you crying?" Silven inquired calmly, almost wisely.

"Because I… I'm not sure but I think I am starting to see you as a friend." Yolei kept sobbing uncontrollably.

"But I am here, and I am your friend, then why are you crying?" the boy asked, his smile glimmering in the darkness.

"Because I feared loosing you, like I lost everything I love!" Yolei cried much harder now, and pounced against him, gripping him tightly.

Silven was pulled back, and his whole body stiffened. The implications those words had, were beyond comprehension. However, he kept gripping the girl tightly, comfortingly. He placed a feathery kiss on her forehead and kept hugging her.

A shadow was moving in the darkness below. Silven pushed away from Yolei abruptly, his elven ears catching the silent paces of someone sneaking. The elf rushed towards the window and looked at the street, hidden in the secure darkness of his room. A cloaked figure was walking around the street, moving silently, and glancing behind from time to time. Silven's eyes widened, and an alarmed gasp escaped his mouth.

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The three humans reached the coast by night. The city was an old, port village, full of fishermen cottages and rocking ships of all sizes sleeping in the swaying water.

"Isn't it too late to pick a ship? And what are we doing here?" Kari complained, looking around at the strange people roaming the place.

"No, it isn't too late. We must go see someone." Izzy explained hurriedly, responding to both questions.

Matt had remained very silent, glancing at the ground yet seeing nothing but the depths of his thoughts. Clear eyes looked up uninterestedly. Immediately the veil of darkness retreated, a sparkle glimmered brightly in the clear orbs, and a pleasant warmth filled him deeply.

To Be Continued…

AN: Ok, there goes another chapter. Sorry for the delay. I am not specially proud of this one, but I promise the next chapter will be much better.


	10. Escaping to Journey

There she was, standing majestically and proud, sitting on her water throne with all her glory illuminating her. The face of a dragon glared threateningly at them, the horns rimmed and twisted on the head, like those of a goat. The neck thickened in moistness, while the wings engulfed the enormous body, only to end in the powerful wideness of its tail. Sails of pure white glimmered in the night, illuminated by the sparkling of stars. There was no distinct flag signally any alignment, hence the people standing on deck were dressed in the most picturesque way.

"Ahoy captain!" Izzy called loudly, placing his hand around his mouth to boost his voice.

A woman leaned over the deck's railing. She was definitely beautiful, her hair was a golden glimmer, highlighted with silver. Features of the finest traces formed her face, sharp and thin, with a slightly tan skin, coloured by hours under the sun. Her eyes were the colour of ocean, hence varied in colour as the seas did.

"Blaze? Tis' ye' old wind scavenger?" the woman said tidying a strand of hair that had fallen off its place.

"Sure I am, Fenalian!" Izzy nodded with a happy voice, and a rather pleased smile.

"Come aboard, come aboard!" Fenalian said with a blooming glee in her voice, while motioning towards a rope ladder.

The three friends climbed up the ladder, and hopped with astounding agility onto the wooden back of the dragon.

"Welcome aboard of the Sea Dragon!" Fenalian said opening her arms in pride, while approaching the trio with secure steps.

"Impressive!" Matt mustered, while staring with unexplainable joy at the colossus that engulfed him.

"Hi Fen." Izzy said with a slight blush, "This are my friends, Matt and Kari." The boy introduced with the serious manners that characterised him.

"A pleasure." The woman said flirting with Izzy, yet her eyes were paying close attention to the wolf boy's movements.

"We need your help, Fen." Izzy snapped abruptly, staring around and lowering his voice considerably.

"Ya', I didn't think ye' were 'ere to see me." Fen mumbled, making her displeasure very obvious.

"I'm sorry, I promise one of this days I will come only to see you." Izzy said blushing slightly, his words urgent.

"Ya', if I got a galleon fer each time ye' told me dis', I'd have stopped stealing a year ago!" Fen snarled sarcastic, placing a lost strand of hair behind a pointy ear.

"Please, Fen, this last time." Izzy begged, almost kneeling on the floor.

"All right, all right. But only so ye' stop shaming me!" Fen said casually, looking away and placing her palm facing the copper dragon's black eyes.

"You are one in a million, Fen!" Izzy said with a bright smile.

"Stop it before I decide to get a swimming suit of dragon scales!" Fen snarled viciously, yet her lips were curled in a smile. "What do you want?" she finally inquired.

"Take us to the continent of Elves, please." Izzy said seriously, "It's rather urgent."

"I don't care what ye' have done this time. Set sails lot of lazy walruses!" the elven woman yelled, hurrying towards the steering wheel.

Men of all ages, colours and sizes were climbing up the deck, appearing from holes that were simply not there before. It was like kicking the mouth of an anthill, and watching the warriors rise to defend the colony. Matt looked up when a flapping sound alerted his acute senses. A flag ha risen and was swaying gloriously, and proudly. It was a piece of cloth that scared him slightly, yet comforted him like the arms of a mother, a mother he never knew. A black flag with a dragon skull, and two bones crossed right under it.

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The cloaked figure entered the thick darkness of the inn's room. Eyes scanned around, and even the sound of a sniffing nose could be heard. Yet the darkness didn't move, nor did the shadows, who were still and patient, waiting for the outcome.

"PYROS!" a female's yell was heard.

The cloaked figure turned around rapidly, yet not fast enough. The room exploded in a flaming white and orange, mixed with the licking of red. The darkness was pushed away by the luminous brilliance, as the whole room was devoured by magical flames.

"Lets go!" Silven commanded, tugging at Yolei's hand, and pulling her away.

The two figured had been hidden right behind the opening door. Yolei's new trick had come in handy, as she demonstrated having an instinctive mastery with magic. The stranger had vanished into the ocean of fire, and the elf had motioned for the girl to escape. The two friends raced towards the stables without loosing time.

"Get on your mare, I'll get a fine one for myself!" Silven said, the urgency and a slight fear seemed to be stuttering in his voice.

"But that's stealing!" Yolei protested, placing her hands on the mare's face.

"Oh, this it not the time for moral lessons! Get on the horse!" Silven commanded more severely.

"But… there is no saddle!" Yolei protested again.

"Yolei!" Silven yelled angrily, riding on his horse, a smaller, reddish stallion.

The elven boy trotted past the woman's stall, as Yolei kicked the mare on the sides and started off after him. The boy's horse neighed and reared, stopping his advance rather abruptly. A cloaked figure had appeared right before the stall's doors, and was standing defiantly, arms extended, legs open. Silven snarled lightly, narrowing his eyebrows, yet kicked the horse's sides so hard the animal gasped airless. The red fury began galloping, being followed by the black storm with passion.

"Lean as tight as you can against your horse!" the elf shouted at Yolei, leaning forward until his chest was pressed against the red's back.

Yolei obeyed and followed bravely. The red snorted angrily, as he was urged forward again by the boy's feet. The horse leapt forward, not high enough as to collide against the ceiling, yet still being able to pass over the figure. The horse's hands hit the man on the face. A pained scream echoed in the night, as amber eyes flashed with hatred, fixed on the elven boy. Yolei's mare imitated the red, yet her jump was lower, being the obstacle laying on the ground. Both horses galloped off into the night.

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The two animals snorted displeased. They had been tied with the same rope that had served as reins, and the two animals were not too glad of being together. The darkness still reigned the world, yet inside a cave flickered a flame. Silven was very pale and shaky, as if the whole commotion had affected him more than he would have desired.

"Silven, are you all right?" Yolei asked worriedly, staring at the man while heating her hands on the fire.

"Yes, I'm fine." SIlven said with a stutter, "Just a little cold." The boy commented casually.

"Yeah, sure." Yolei mumbled angrily.

"Why don't you name the horses? Looks like they will spend a lot of time with us!" Silven said trying to appear excited.

"Why would I want to name them? They are not mine in the first place!" Yolei said slightly exasperated.

"Well, they are now. It's not like you can give them back. My people believe that, by naming the horses with names of things, they get the quality of those things." Silven said with a shrug, as if the whole thing lacked any importance at all.

"Well, my people don't…" Yolei began, yet her words died in the darkness.

Silven mustered a whisper and extinguished the flames. Rapidly the boy pressed Yolei against the rocky wall and covered her with his slender body. The boy looked back, expectant, his whole body stiff with tension. Yolei was breathing heavily, the nerves of not knowing was making her more worried than what she should. The horses were silent, deadly silent. A shadow, an enormous winged shadow flew right before the cave's entrance. The whooshing sound of thick leader flapping boomed into the cave. As quickly as it came, it left.

"It's gone!" said Silven with a sigh of relief, turning his face to look at the woman.

Suddenly the two encountered themselves inches from each other. Yolei tilted her head slightly, her eyes glancing deeply into the elf's violet blue ones. Their breathings quickened, specially Silven's breath, which became a heaving panting. Suddenly, the elf pushed himself away from her, his whole muscles were trembling with a furious vibration.

"I'm going for a walk…" the boy said abruptly, nervously, "Don't light a fire." He commanded more severely.

The elf raced outside the cave, leaving Yolei alone in the darkness, and with a terrible sensation of loss. Izzy was blooming in her mind this time, stronger than ever, yet somehow the dragon's eyes had suddenly lightened to a violet shade, remembering the confused eyes that stared so gently at her.

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Silven walked into the night, pacing as silent and invisible as all elves were capable of. His eyes glanced into the sky. Stars were glimmering accusingly, furious were their chatter as pointing hands seemed to glare angrily at him. The boy felt his legs wobbly, weak. Loosing all the strength he had remaining, the youth fell on his knees. His head looked at the sky passionately, and his arms extended in offering before the heavens.

"What is happening to me? Why am I aching so badly? Have I sinned Mother? Why this punishment?" Silven yelled at the sky with clarity.

Shutting his eyes tightly, warmth and humidity began to fill his cheeks. The boy allowed his heart pouring comfortingly with his tears, fluent like the course of a river. He clenched his jaws and tried to maintain the silence that engulfed him.

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The ship sailed calmly across the oceans. The dragon head cutting the water, such that the enormous body could float rapidly across it. The sun began to rise, a gentle glimmer of a pure gold started to sparkle in the always moving water. Matt inhaled one deep breath, absorbing the fresh morning, and the salty scent. He smiled sighing pleasantly, and opened his eyes to stare at the beauty before him.

"Wonderful, isn't it Mathew?" a gentle, melodious voice inquired behind him.

"Oh… Hi!" Matt said turning around to find Fenalian standing right behind him.

"I adore this life, but this vision… I would have given all my gold only to see this dawn one more time." Fenalian commented casually, leaning on the railing and resting on it.

"It is very pretty." Matt commented passively.

"Captured your heart, hasn't she?" Fen inquired staring at the boy distractedly.

"Somehow being in this ship, watching this dawn, everything… fills me with a strange calm and safety." Matt responded shrugging, his eyes focused on the rippling water.

"It is no doubt." Fen said with a shrug, as if it was very obvious.

"Why?" Matt inquired rather urgently, turning abruptly to stare at her, inquiringly, sharply.

"It is obvious, the blood in your veins." Fen smiled at Matt rather funny.

"The blood in my veins? What has my lycanthrope blood got to do with ships, and the sea?" Matt narrowed his eyebrows confused, as he gesticulated irritated.

"Lycanthrope blood? No, I meant pirate blood. You are a werewolf?" This time it was Fen's turn to be surprised.

"Pirate blood? Wait a minute, I'm not getting much of this." Matt was confused, and was becoming frustrated by the second.

"I don't understand it… you are a lycanthrope!" Fen exclaimed rather interested, staring at the boy as if he had suddenly appeared.

"Yes!" Matt growled irritated, "But what were you talking about pirate blood?" the youth was starting to mutate his irritation into anger.

"You are my brother!" Fen snapped suddenly.

"You are crazy!" Matt growled shaking his head, turning around angrily and retreating from Fen's company.

"Your father was my father!" Fen snapped rapidly, "Naruk the Fierce, a great pirate. Mother was called Fenrir the Wolf, a strong warrior of a tribe of lycanthropes. I haven't seen them in more than 20 years." Fen said calmly.

"You knew them?" Matt stared at Fen with clear eyes.

"Yes, you are a pirate, just like your father was." Fen's eyes glimmered lightly, "how are they?" she inquired hopefully.

"Divorced, but fine." Matt grinned lightly, "I live with my dad, but it seems like I am the one who has inherited the wolf gene." The boy shrugged, lacking importance to his words.

"Not completely, these…" Fen pointed at her ears, "are not elven ears, I am not an elf. I can't shapeshift, or anything, but I have werewolf traces, these ears, or sharper fangs." The girl smiled lightly.

"Why were you so surprised that I was a werewolf?" Matt inquired taking one hesitant step towards the woman.

"Since I didn't inherit mother's genes, I didn't believe one of her children with a human pirate could become a full time lycanthrope." Fen explained shrugging.

Matt opened his lips to comment on Fen's last words. Suddenly the ship wobbled and shook violently. Matt let his body fall on four legs, such that his balance was kept easily. Fen turned around and gripped on the railing, leaning over to glance at the sea with seriousness. The sea was calm, so that abrupt movement must have been something external, something large, strong, or arcane at least.

"For the glory of Gynaro!" Fen took a step back, as the surface of the water exploded into a column of salty fluid and millions of raindrops which showered the wooden dragon.

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To Be Continued…

AN: There comes another chapter. How are you liking it? More interesting as it proceeds? I have some interesting ideas for the ending. Anyways, I hope you are enjoying it, and suggestions of all kinds are accepted.


	11. The Sea Serpent, Lord of Dragons

As Silven entered the cave once again, Yolei was laying down. The cloak was covering her such that she was warm, and her breathing was placid, calm. The slender hand was laying over the open book, arcane symbols seemed to glow at times. Silven smiled, the young mage had fallen asleep while studying magic.

The sun was beginning to filtrate through the cave's entrance, that made her prettier if that was possible. Disturbed by those thoughts, Silven looked away and a glimmer flashed through the corner of his eyes. The elf tensed abruptly as realization dawned over him like morning was doing over the woodlands. His head turned around and he crawled next to the sleeping girl. Yolei was not sleeping.

"What is she doing?" Silven was alarmed as he began to ponder the options to this question.

Not long after, the elven youth relaxed, and a tranquil smile crossed his lips. A knowledge spell. The girl was using a rather benign spell to drink the contents of the book. It was rather common for mages to use this spells in order of memorizing books during critic situations. Silven ignored how it would work with a nobel mage, and with a spell book. He confided on her however.

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Fenalian and Matt gasped at the vision before them. A large snake had emerged out of the water. It was a beautiful and terrible creature all the same. The body of the serpent that was outside the water towered over the mast, and its thickness could easily compete against the ship's thickness. The mouth was sharp and apparently toothless since the fangs were so tiny they couldn't tear, only grip ferreously. The body was covered with greenish and blue scales, blending with the colour of the water, and the stomach was a light blue and pearl, almost metallic and shinny. The eyes were aqua green, and there were four power fins, like a turtle's fins, placed instead of legs. A crest of leather ran across the head and back, and the animal shrieked almost in a melodious sound.

"A Sea Serpent!" Fen gasped loudly, her clear eyes glancing at the beast with horror.

"A what?" Matt said standing up as the ship calmed down.

"The most terrible of the inhabitants of the sea, and one of the most ferocious dragons. Little is known about them but it doesn't surprise me to see they are under Rakesh's orders." Fen said in a fearful hiss, "Come on men! Steer way, hurry!" her voice was firm and strong, as well as urgent.

The crew began to work rapidly, although the terror was accusing them all. The mysterious sea serpent swayed back and forth calmly, watching steadily the goings on the deck. Izzy and Kari came along, looking worried and curious all the same. Kari shrieked as her eyes landed on the monstruous animal, and Izzy tensed visibly, clenching his jaw.

"What is that?" Kari shrieked louldly, pointing with fear at the creature.

"There you are!" a hiss boomed on the air, making the ocean vibrate violently.

The serpent pounced forward, aiming at the two dragons, his eyes fixed on the silver female. Izzy shapeshifted in the copper form of a winged dragon. The creature growled and pounced on the serpent, making his head bend backwards and away from Kari. The serpet hissed and Izzy, in his dragon form, glided around the monster, his lips curled in a ferocious expression. The serpent was much larger than Izzy, in fact, it was the biggest creature that ever roamed the world of Becenykan.

"Izzy..." Kari whispered softly, her delicate fist placed upon her heart.

There was silence, everybody was frozen and the tension was so thick it was palpable. The two dragons were glancing at each other, the two reptiles evaluating the other's abilities. There was a slight mock, a very obvious grimace of disgust apparent in the serpent's features. The animal flooded superiority all over its pores. The dragon sneered visibly, showing a sharp tounge and a collection of minuscule teeth. Izzy, facing the challenge, growled showing his large fangs in comparison. The dragon pounced forward, fangs ready and claws prepared.

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Tai returned home after class, he was looking miserable, yet hopeful all the same. As he approached his mother, their eyes crossed in that question, that daily inquiry that had always the same response.

"Still nothing?" Asked Tai rather worried, yet still maintaining his hopes high.

"Nothing, your sister has been gone for days already." His mother said shaking her head in a contained cry, her hands covering her face as she tossed it.

"Right!" said Tai patting the woman gently, then retreating to his room.

Kari was not the only person who had misteriously vanished in this air. After Izzy's revelation and his unexplainable disappearance, things had been very strange. Suddenly, Tai froze in mid way to his room, the shadows of the corridor granted him cover. Realization dawned on his features, shaking his insides with fury and joy. How stupid could he had been? It all made sense, Izzy and Yolei were a couple, and suddenly he vanished and, two years after, three children vanish as well. Incredibly enough, Yolei is one of the children. It made sense!

Tai rushed towards his room and shut the door. He wrote a note for his mother, telling her that he had left to the library for some books, and that afterwards he would leave for a drink with a friend. Done that, Tai oppened the window of his room and looked at the street. It was very high, but he wasn't afraid, in fact, the heights granted him a strange sensation of security. Tai wasn't as intelligent as Izzy and Yolei, and he would never be able to figure it out by himself, but he was sure where the three children had left. To find Izzy. How? Yolei would tell him.

With a bright smile, Tai took his shirt of and stood before the window, half naked. The boy inhaled the warm, afternoon air, and grinned with calm and pleasure. Looking at the street once again, the boy pounced out of the window. Relief came as the air began to lick his bare chest. The youth enjoyed the fall, although it was brief and short, yet it filled him with excitement and joy.

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The serpent shrieked and leaned backwards as the copper dragon attacked him. A long, sinuous tail slithered out of the water and whipped Izzy's side. The dragon moaned in pain and was thrown against the ship. Knowing well he would sink the wooden structer, Izzy shapeshifted into a human and hit one of the sails, before bouncing on the deck. The boy groaned disgustedly while the serpent shrieked in satisfaccion.

"Izzy!" called Kari, leaning down to aid the fallen boy.

"I'm fine!" the boy whimpered through ragged breaths, "Just been a big impact!" he pointed out, moving his upper body upwards to a sitting position with his arms.

Kari looked up at the serpent. There was this thick pressure in her veins, and this flood of frozen water lurking inside her. Frowning visibly and grimacing at the serpent, the girl stood up and shook her long, creamy mane. There was anger in the tension of her muscles, there was fury and there was fear. A bright glow illuminated her body, and the girl began running towards the large dragon.

Kari leapt off the ship and into the water. There was a bright flash of crystal clear light, and the oceanic surface shattered into million liquid pieces. A silver dragon emerged, ferocious and powerful, still much smaller than the serpent, Kari was a magnificent dragon. Under the clear dawn, her body glowed with a dim golden haze, making her far more aurean and fascinating.

"Leave, now!" the silver female roared at the inhabitants of the ship.

"Ye' heard 'er. Lets go, men!" Fenalian motioned at her crew and rushed up to the steering wheel.

"Fen?" Matt barked, running after her, "Fen, you can't leave Kari here!" Matt growled gripping her arm and making her turn so she was gazing right into his eyes.

"Ye' heard 'er, brother. If we stay 'ere, either the ship is destroyed, and we all drow, or she'll not be able te' fight well, and be killed!" Fen said glancing at Matt seriously, "ye' choose... she's got a chance if we leave, and us too!"

Those words said, Fen got rid of Matt's grip and rushed away to steer the ship out of the battlefield. The boy turned around to glance at the retreating fight. The two dragons were locked in a deadly hug, both were already plagued with wounds and cuts, yet none was serious enough as to cause them any harm.

"Curious..." mustered Izzy from the distance, leaning against the main mast and still breathing with trouble.

"What is?" inquired Matt curiously from the other end of the deck.

"The serpent, he could have killed Kari already, but it seems as if he was trying her." Izzy explained glancing at Matt.

There was a crystaline sound, and a rather ferocious shriek. Taking the chance that the serpent was observing the retreating ship, Kari had fired a column of ice at the sea dragon. The monster shrieked painfully as his body was frozen, the water still covering his body causing this effect. Kari growled with joy, hence this feeling was not to last long. The monster shattered the ice and hissed, plunging forward and coiling around Kari's silver body.

"Relax, wyrm of night." The serpent said in a soft, calm hiss. "You have proven worthy."

"I... I don't get you!" Kari said almost choking at the serpent's grip.

"I won't hurt you, children, but you have fought valiantly." The serpent said, relaxing the grip on Kari and approaching the ship.

The dragon allowed Kari returning to her human self and placed his tail next to the ship to create a bridge for the young female dragon to cross. Kari hugged Matt and began sobbing with nervous trouble. The ship stopped its frantic retreat, and was replaced by a tranquil sway of the waves.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Velska, the Sea Serpent guardian of Aberyn." The dragon said with a soft hiss.

"Aberyn?" inquired Matt rather troubled.

"I've heard of it!" gasped Fen, "But it's nothing but a legend!" she said looking at the serpent accusatively.

"Precisely, that's the point, making it a legend so only the fair will find it." Velska explained extending his neck with pride.

"What is this Aberyn?" inquired Matt glancing at Izzy with curiosity.

"Aberyn is real, as far as I know. I've never seen it but Quicksilver comes from Aberyn. It is supposed to be a hidden island where the dragons of light live, where forgotten divinities end up." Izzy explained, yet kept his eyes fixed on the serpent.

"Very correct, young Wyrm of the Day. I am under Argenta's orders, and she told me to find the Saviours, as well as prove their worth and nobility. The female's sacrifice was very noble. But I question, there is three of you, where is the Hidden Daughter and the Shadow of Frozen Eyes?" Velska inquired looking back and forth across the ship.

"Who?" inquired Izzy standing more straight as the pain subsided.

"There must be five of you, and I see only three." Velska explained solemnly.

"The Hidden daughter... the Shadow of Frozen eyes, to triumph against darkness you shalt guide..." Matt said calmly, pulling apart from Kari, "Jag, and Yolei!" he snapped suddenly, understanding.

"Them?" Izzy inquired surprised, "But we don't know where they are, they could be pretty much dead!" Izzy exclaimed nervously.

"No, they are alive. Do not worry, I will guide you to Aberyn, and will make sure to find them!" Velska said swaying his head from side to side.

"All right, maybe we'll get something clearer about this prophecy!" Izzy commented standing straight and nodding solemnly.

"But you must sleep, nobody must ever know how to get to Aberyn..." Velska said swaying in a more notable way.

The people's eyelids began to fall, even before Fen could complain, something she was determined on doing soon enough. Before they realized they had been put under a spell, the bodies collapsed on the wooden deck and rested there, in a deep slumber. With a satisfied smile, Velska dived underwater and stood before the ship. Almost as if some invisible ropes were tied to him, the dragon began guiding the ship across the calm oceans.

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Yolei woke up lazily. She ignored how long she had been sleeping, but her had rested upon the closed surface of the book's lids. A rather sharp numbness hit her body, and she had to stretch notably before she was able to calm down the electric shots that coursed through her flesh and tortured her movements. The woman then walked out into the fresh day. The two horses were let loose, and both were grazing on the grass groing under the trees, no worries accusing the two equines.

"I wonder where Silven is?" inquired Yolei feeling a strange sensation of lonelyness.

As the young mage looked up, she saw something that made her body tremble with fear and excitement. Yolei gasped at the incredible scene before her clear eyes.

To Be Continued...

AN: I know it took me ages to continue this but I wanted to finish A Life To Live and its sequel, To Live A Life. I must say I'm really pleased with the results. I've also started a new story, Serious Misplace. However, since nobody is reading this, I guess it doesn't matter if I take ages to finish it, so...


	12. Silven's Fears

There was a small mountain before her, so small it wasn't a mountain, but too large and rocky to be a hill. It was more like a really large stone, or heap of stones. Standing over the solid mount was an enormous figure. It expanded the leathery wings and arched the slender neck with pleasure. The beast flapped the wings several times before allowing itself to rest on all fours. The dragon's scales glimmered a pearly white, with a slight silvery touch, under the gentle caressing of solar rays.

The magnificent beast glanced on Yolei's way. It seemed to ponder something for a second, second in which Yolei trembled with fear and prepared all her arsenal of weapons. The young girl ignored whether this creature was noble or terrible, and didn't know if it was going to attack her. Seconds after imagining the situation if the dragon attacked, the beast stretched, leapt up and flew in the opposite direction, vanishing behind the rocky formation.

The girl sighed with relief, but an emptyness seemed to crawl into her soul. That dragon, it was the biggest creature she had ever seen, and was white, and amazingly beautiful. Suddenly she was reminded painfully of Izzy, and she realized she was forgetting him. The deep passion, the determination of finding him, the desire of becoming a dragon, it was still the same, but she could barely remember him any more. There was just a flaming copper blurr in her mind, where only a pair of black eyes seemed to focus. It wasn't enough since those eyes faded to become a pair of well known blue violet orbs.

"Yolei?" a very familiar voice said from the depths of the woodlands.

"Silven!" the mage exclaimed turning to stare at the blond elf appearing, carrying a dead fawn on his back.

"You are awake!" the boy exclaimed, dropping the fawn on the floor and rushing to embrace Yolei in a tight hug.

"How much time have I been asleep?" the woman inquired curiously, returning the embrace and staring at Silven with a light blush.

"For about three weeks. You don't learn magic in one night, Yolei." Silven told her very seriously, although it was obvious he had been very worried.

"Well, I had to learn magic fast if I wanted to deffend myself!" Yolei said placing her hands on her hips.

"But mages take years to learn? Anyways, I could have protected you!" Silven said, staring at the woman incredulously.

"How? With a bow and an arrow? With your elvish charms? I can protect myself, thank you!" Yolei snapped crossing her arms over her chest.

"I have more weapons than that, but if you want it that way..." Silven snapped angrily, glaring at the woman.

"Really? Which?" Yolei questioned, staring at the elf curiously.

"Hu? Well... nothing important." Silven commented blushing, turning around to pick the dead fawn from the floor.

The lunch had been silent and not very eventful. Silven kept glancing painful looks at Yolei, only to retreat the gaze as soon as Yolei looked up at him. It was odd to her, but something seemed to be bothering the elf, something that was tearing him from inside. There was a pained, worried look as he glanced thoughtfully at the piece o roasted meat on his hand. The elven boy ate with craving, but there was this distraction as his mind was elsewhere.

"What is wrong?" Yolei inquired, clearing her throat and breaking the silence.

"Oh? Nothing..." Silven said, glancing up only to look away sadly.

"Come on, tell me!" Yolei pleaded, staring at the boy with a large, curious smile.

"Stop being so nosy! Nothing is wrong, all right?" Silven snapped harshly, "Ride on your horse, we still have a couple of weeks until we reach the coast." The boy ended, standing up and heading towards the chestnut stallion.

The woman obeyed silently. It wasn't like her, but she had never been treated to harshly by the gentle and noble elf. All the way, there was a strange look in his eyes, like a deep suffering tearing him inside. The chestnut stallion was always ahead of Yolei and her black, freisian mare by a distance of a dragon or two. Shaking her head, Yolei patted the mare's glossy neck and sighed, staring at Silven with worry and annoyance.

"You look worried..." said the red stallion all of a sudden.

"I'm not, Red Fury." Silven said dryly, as if this was completely normal.

"Master Elf, I am a horse, and I know what I talk about. What worries you?" the young, flaming horse neighed vividly, tossing his head up and down.

"Look, Fury, it really is nothing!" Silven snarled, tensing and tugging at Fury's rein rather abruptly.

"Ouch!" the horse snorted, shaking slightly at the pain in his mouth, "I think I know it." He suggested tentatively, careful and softly, avoiding another tug.

"What would you know? You are just a horse!" Silven felt tempted to pull at both reins at the same time, but it would stop the horse and he was not willing to meet Yolei.

"Precisely Master Elf. You love the girl, don't you?" Fury asked in silent, slow words, trying to cause as less impact as he could.

Silven tensed inmediately, which resulted in a slight tug of the rein. The elf's legs pressed against the horse's sides, making him ignore whether he wanted to maintain pace, accelerate or go slower.

"I don't love her!" the elf snapped in a high pitched voice.

"Are you sure?" Fury asked more valiantly this time.

"Even if I did, it would never work!" Silven yelled angrily at the stallion, "I'm not... like her!" the boy finished with a moan.

"That is obvious!" Fury comented, "Yolei is going to give up her humanity for that dragon, what would you sacrifice for her?" Fury said calmly, turning his head just to glance at the elf.

"Wait a minute..." Silven said all of a sudden, staring with a scrutinizing gaze at the horse's amber eyes, "I think I know you!" he added trying to reach that figure hidden in the darkness of his mind.

"Impossible, after all, I'm just a horse..." the horse finished returning the chestnut face forward and falling in a dead silence.

Silven knew better than to try get something else out of the animal's mouth. Misteries like this, sentences without meaning, prophecies and all of those voodoo things were on the order of the day here. When someone decided he had said enough, it was like trying to persuade a Master at an RPG game to tell you who the baddie bad guy was. Most likely you would just get another puzzle to try and solve.

"I wonder what they are talking about..." Yolei inquired placing a strand of violet hair behind her ear.

The black mare, Nightmare, simply snorted, and pulled on the reins slightly, before continuing her calm, lazy pace. It was almost as if she was speaking, perhaps commenting that it was nothing important, but Yolei couldn't place her finger to it. Suddenly the black, pointed ears, pricked and fell backwards, and Nightmare raised her head to turn it and stare behind. It was as if a heavy foot had stepped on a slender twig, and it had snapped in two. Yolei was alert as well, staring behind and expecting to see anything pounce on her. It was obvious that her imagination was wild about that topic.

Trashing, storming out of the foliage with an explosion of leaves and branches, various creatures came out. They were skinny, but as tall as a human, and bearing large clubs on their hands, and small swords. They were dirty, untidy, and dressed with rags. The skin was slimy, thick and wrinkled, like old leather that has been living under the rain for a very long time. The creatures yelled through their fanged mouths, shrieking in a way that didn't seem to affect their pointed ears.

"ORCS!" Yolei yelled all of a sudden, kicking Nightmare's sides and urging her forward.

The black mare sped off across the ground, tearing it with her enormous hooves. Various drops of water were beggining to fall from a thick, cloudy sky, itching at the contact with bare skin. Silven pulled on Fury's reins and turned to look at the approaching mare, followed by a very large group of orcs, approximately thirty or forty orcs. Without thinking twice, Silven prepared an arrow and fired it before human eyes could see. The well aied weapon hit one of the closest orcs between each eyebrow.

Yolei was not so cocky and experimented as to let the horse's head loose while she fired the various spells she had learnt. However, there was a specially small beast hanging from Nightmare's tail, making her slower and more annoyed and bad tempered at each step. Without even allowing Yolei a second opinion, the mare threw one of her hind legs and kicked the orc off her tail. The reaction to this manoeuvre was the exceeding slow down of the animal. The orcs were catching land rapidly, and the mare was barely starting her frantic gallop.

"Earthquake!" Yolei extended both hands at the orcs at conjuring the spell.

A rather large creek opened right before the orcs, deepening slightly, yet not growing much in width. Many of the orcs fell right through it while the rest managed to jump over it and avoid a sure death. It wasn't a very spectacular spell, but it turned out useful, and granted Yolei enough time to gallop at full speed away from the monsters. Now the rain was pounding ore furiously, and the black sky threatened with a torrential storm.

Once the black mare had passed next to the red stallion, Silven kicked and urged Fury forward, towards the retreating black shadow. Fury was easily closing ground between the two of them, hence approaching Yolei and the larger, heavier, freisian mare. Silven leaned forward over the chestnut neck and began whipping Fury with the remaint of the reins, making the animal gallop at much more speed.

"Follow me!" Silven bellowed over the sound of thunder, motioning at Yolei to come after her.

With a nod, the woman pulling lightly on the mare's reins, hence making her go slower to allow Silven and Fury to pass them more easily. Silven tugged at the left rein softly, making Fury turn and penetrate the thick foliage, evading the marked path and entering an ocean of darkness and dense vegetation. With slight reminiscense and hesitation, Yolei followed. It wasn't like she had an option, since she would never survive in this world alone.

It was refreshing to have such thick ceiling of leaves over their heads. The thick rain that had been pounding violently, painfully, was nothing but a refreshing shower over their heads. The two horses had to slow down noticeably, since visibility was feeble, and the ground was so densely covered with vegetation it was imposible to know where they were stepping. Unfortunately, the orcs seemed to be venturing into the jungle like woodlands, which urged the two friends.

"We must cross the river now that the rain just started, or the currents will drown us." Silven comented glancing at the woman with glossy, violet eyes.

Yolei simply nodded while trying hard to breathe in large gulps of air. The muscle at her right side of the waist was puncturing her as if being pierced with flaming needles. This feeling was beggining to crawl up her side, reaching her breast and threatening to extend throughout her right arm. The exhaustion was filling her rapidly, and she wasn't sure for how long she would be able to resist.

"Hold on..." urged that silent whisper, that gentle, female voice she had heard the night she met Silven.

It was like a comforting hug that boosted something deep inside Yolei. It filled her with a renewed strength she hadn't known she could have. Still feeling the deep, burning sensation, Yolei stood very straight and urged Nightmare forward. The mare obeyed without any reluctance, tossing her head up and down as if agreeing with her rider's command.

It didn't take long for the two young riders to reach the river. It was more like a small stream with a rather large bank. Easily, Yolei deduced that the river must grow during strong rains, until covering the totallity of the bank. At a light gallop, the two horses descended the sandy beach. Fury felt his hooves slip lightly, and Silven pulled on the reins to aid him gain some balance.

The water was slightly wild and violent, moving rapidly and beggining to grow. Still it wouldn't be more than knee deep for the two equines. Gathering some speed, the two horses leapt over the water, trying to skip as much distance from the other shore as possible. Only a couple of metres away did the horses landed, penetrating the cold water and snorting at the stones. The chestnut stallion felt his right hoof slightly sore from a very nasty and unexpected impact with a stone larger than he thought. Easily, the two horses cleared the stream and galloped up the bank again, being hidden by large, bright green leaves and thick trunks.

The two animals and their riders began to climb a much steeper slope, and the bushes became less dense only to be replaced by a bed of moss and gentle grass. A ceiling of tall trees still covered them, guarding them from a very intense rain. Yolei stopped hearing the guttural yells and gurgles of the orcs. The sound of rain pounding on the leaves, the hooves stomping and tearing the moss, and the heavy breathings, nothing else could be heard in the jungle like forest.

"I think they are leaving!" Yolei gasped through laboured breaths.

"Go on!" was Silven's concise and urgent answer, a hint of fear in his voice.

Yolei was not going to question his priorities, not when exhaustion was about to finish her off. Nightmare was also very tired, and her steps began to wobble lightly as her tounge fell out of her open, foamy mouth. Fury was not much better, to make things worse he was limping from the right, front hand and seemed to be making an enormous effort not to fall down. Minutes later, Silven dismounted with a jump, not even stopping Fury who nearly fell off as he lost balance completely. The horse's knees ended up on the moss, but he stood up easily and fast.

"What is going on?" Yolei inquired alarmed, pulling Nightmare's reins and dismounting.

"Go, hide!" the boy hissed at the horses.

The two animals obeyed with a neigh and a tossing of their heads, and galloped off into the foliage. Without even waiting for Yolei to recover her breath, the boy gripped her wrist firmly and pulled her towards a mat of firm, thick bushes. The girl was about to protests when the shadows and the darkness engulfed the two of them. It was nothing but the entrance of a large cave, so big that the ceiling could not be seen. Silven placed her against the stone wall rather violently, and covered her sitting figure with his body, acting like a shield.

"Silven, the orcs have left. What is...?" the woman tried to question before being cut off.

"Shhh, don't speak." Silven's voice was fearful.

As much as Yolei couldn't understand this behaviour, she obeyed. Probably because of the fear she was feeling, or simply because she was exhausted. Anyways, she wouldn't have to wait long to see what made Silven so preocupied.

To Be Continued...

AN: Ok, there comes another chapter. Sorry I took so long to update. To be honest, I stopped writting it because nobody read it, so I thought it was stupid to focus all my energy on a story nobody was reading. Anyways, I have another reason, Serious Misplace, Proyect Matrix (finally!), To Live A Life, The Wiccan, and a future, short story called The Car!

Well, a couple of chapters more to go, I believe.


	13. Yolei and her Familiar

The scarce light that could filtrate through the clouds and the dense foliage made the leaves at the cave's entrace glimmer with a hazy transparent touch. It was like watching through a curtain of green, rice paper. Suddenly, darkening the whole curtain with night, making the trees outside sway with a powerful gust of wind, a shadow flew past. It was enormous, and it happened to fly over the cave a few more times, before it decided nothing interesting was there.

"W... what was that?" Yolei stuttered, staring at the thick foliage, and the emerald leaves.

"Dragon!" Silven hissed with a hatred and anger in his voice it was almost scary, almost animalistic.

"I... I saw a white dragon this morning. Maybe it's following us." Yolei's throat was dry, and her voice trembled lightly.

"Hum?" Silven turned to stare at Yolei, "No... that dragon isn't following us." He said, looking away shamefully.

Yolei inhaled a deep gulp of air and tensed visibly. The woman had just realized just how close Silven was to her. What made her heart beat much faster was the fact that she was very comfortable, feeling his heat so close to her body. The woman began to ponder as she observed the saddened face, so gentle, and beautiful. The silvery golden hair flowing down in a long mane, and the violet eyes, so mysterious and intelligent.

Silven glanced at the woman and gasped. There, under the shadows, hearing the gentle rain, their clothes stuck to their bodies, Yolei looked more beautiful than ever. Silven had to admit that the mage outfit was like a glove to the hand for her. The long, lavender hair fell in a cascade, wet and sleek, over her shoulders. Without even thinking what he was doing, Silven began to lean forward, towards Yolei. Something inside him was pushing him forward, a deep desire he had never felt before. Yolei, on the contrary, was so stunned that she tried to push herself further away from him, meeting a very nasty wall behind herself.

"Silven!" a loud neigh said rather excitedly.

"Fury!" Silven snapped over reacting, standing up and smiling effusively at the stallion. The reason was that he wasn't stupid, he had seen Yolei's reluctaness to kiss him, and knew how stupid he had been.

"The orcs are far away, and the rain has stopped." The stallion said tossing his chestnut head, and staring at Silven through the bright, amber eyes.

"Fantastic. What happened to the dragon?" Silven inquired, looking at the horse proudly.

"You are talking to the horse?" Yolei inquired, staring at the two creatures as if they were crazy. However, Yolei was starting to understand stray words, here and there, from the animal's conversation.

"Gone, it was Shadow." Fury explained, ignoring Yolei's remark, and looking disturbed.

"Shadow!" Silven growled, clenching his fists and lookin so furious Yolei was momentarily frightened.

"The coasts are nearby, but I think it would be a better idea to camp for the night." Nightmare's black head appeared through the thick curtain of leaves, looking tired but serious.

"Here?" Yolei snapped abruptly, glancing at Nightmare with slight fear.

There was a thick silence spreading over the creatures like a veil. All eyes were on the young mage. Fury's and Silven's were surprised, while Nightmare's brown eyes were looking at Yolei with a patient gentleness that softened the horse's spirit in a motherly way. On the other hand, Yolei's palm cupped over her lips after a loud gasp, the shock being read on her features. Nothing was clear any more.

"The orcs will never find us inside the cave, and we have to make sure that this dragon has fled far away before continuing our path." Silven explained patiently, staring at Yolei and smiling lovingly at her, holding her hand tighly, comfortingly.

Yolei looked pale and shaky. All of this was being too much to cope with, and she barely understood any more. As far as she knew, she had come to this world searching for Izzy. There had been no sign of Izzy, but she was now inside a cave, with a terribly handsome elven man, two stolen horses and the knowledge that she was a mage along with her new ability to understand 'equine'. Unable to do anything else, Yoley stood up and fled into the dark depths of the cave, escaping all of this madness to think about all of this.

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Tai knew he wasn't supposed to be doing this. It was a crime, minor, but a crime nevertheless. The boy had entered Yolei's empty room, in the middle of the night, and was fidgetting with her documents.

"Come on, baby, show me what I need." Tai muttered in a whisper, reading the scribbled handwritting on a notebook.

The boy smiled brightly. There it was, the instructions, the steps to follow, the theories, everything was written in this book. Tai shut the notebook, his eyes glinting ferviently, and leapt out of the window. Vanishing into the sky, Tai was traveling now back to his how, but also towards a new, fascinating adventure.

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The mage was impressed. Deeper inside the cave, passing along narrow corridors, was an enormous chamber, bigger than eyes could see. Sparkling in the vast walls were some really big torches, created out of pool shapped stones. The happy, dancing flame, reflected on the most amazing treasure Yolei had ever seen. Mountains of gold, silver, jewels, and the most pictoresque collection of shapes and forms were placed right before her eyes. Separating Yolei from the treasure, was a small lake, tinted gold by the reflection of the mount on the watery surface.

"Amazing, this must be a pirate's cave!" Yolei gasped, captivated by the gold, like all humans.

"Actually, it's a dragon's cave." Said the calm voice of a female from behind.

The movement was sharp and abrupt when Yolei turned around, and a rather powerful ball of fire had appeared on her hand, ready to be thrown at the intruder. Relaxing, Yolei saw it was none other than the black mare, staring at her from the entrance of the cave. It didn't please her to have company, much less a company she could understand, all of a sudden.

"Oh... it's you." The mage's voice couldn't have been more dispassionate.

"I'll pretend you were more effusive at my appearance." The mare snapped annoyed, taking slow steps towards Yolei.

"If this is a dragon cave..." Yolei inquired, turning back to face the treasure with craving delight, "Shouldn't we be worried that it might return?"

"Probably, but this dragon looks like it has been away for a long time. There is barely no dragon smell left, and anyways, it is not a bad dragon." Nightmare answered, reaching Yolei's spot.

"How would a dragon enter the cave to bring all this treasure?" the mage didn't look at the mare, "the corridors are very narrow."

"I'll prettend I didn't hear that, Yolei." Nightmare said, tossing her head from side to side.

Yolei was about to protest, until she pondered about the dragon's ability to shapeshift. Her open mouth was shut rapidly.

"Why can I understand you?" finally, the young mage reached the question that had been bugging her for the past minutes.

"I thought you'd never ask me." Nightmare turned her head to stare at Yolei, only to find with deception that the woman was evading her gaze. "I think we share a special bond." Nightmare's brown eyes stared at the mountain of gold.

"What kind of special bond?" Yolei inquired slightly abrupt, turning to stare at the mare.

"It's hard to explain. I think I became your familiar. A familiar is an animal with whom a mage shares a very tight bond. Familiars and mages would give their life for each other." Nightmare explained, her voice similar to a proffesor's.

"Who created that bond? How did it happen?" Yolei's curious mind made her throw a rainfall of questions at the poor animal.

"I'm not sure, Yolei, I'm just a horse!" Nightmare, feeling assaulted, defended herself harshly. "I can tell you some things I know about familiars. The bond is not created by an specific person, or by a spell. It's a more primigenial magic. Something more powerful and wild.

Eventually, something makes the mage and the animal share such bond. I heard of a mage who saved a male stag from drowning on a swamp, and he became the mage's familiar. The mage who had the wolf pup when he was a kind, and which is now his familiar. Even mages who saved a butterfly, bee or ant from being mutilated, and have such animals as their familiars.

In our case, I think it's all we have gone through, and the fact that I acompanied you through all of your adventures." The mare was more gentle when saying this.

"But I don't get one thing, what happens to mage or familiar if something were to happen to either?" Yolei inquired as clearly as she could.

"If one of them perished, the other would too." Said a terribly familiar voice behind them, "The bond between a mage and a familiar is very tight. It's so tight that familiars such as bugs and mice can live ages, when their natural life rarely exceeds a few months or a couple of years." Silven said more expertly, emerging from the darkness and aproaching the two females, being followed by the red stallion.

"Oh..." Yolei didn't know whether that preocupied her, or animated her, so she decided to distract her gaze back on the delightful treasure.

"This treasure was property of a white dragon, I wonder what happened to it?" Silven asked, walking towards Yolei and sitting next to her.

"Probably it got killed somewhere, seems like you can't turn around a corner without having the worry that something at the other side might get you!" Yolei snapped, keeping her distance very seriously.

"Look..." Silven said, smiling at her with such a care it made Yolei's heart soften, "I'm sorry about earlier, I lost it completely. I let myself get carried away." The boy said blushing to the tip of his pointed ears, "But I promise you it won't happen again."

"Well... that clears something then, I though, for a moment, that you had feelings for me!" Yolei laughed a rather nervous laughter.

"Yolei..." Silven said very slowly and seriously, staring at the lake with a dreamy gaze.

"Hum?" the woman's laugh was silenced, and her eyes stared at the elf.

"I'd lie if I said I don't hold any feelings for you. I'm not sure myself of what I feel, and I'm not sure I want to find them out either. But I won't do anything against your will..." the boy never stared at her.

"But... I love Izzy!" Yolei protested, looking alarmed.


	14. The Black Dragon

Yolei woke up. The morning sun was fresh, and beams of golden light filtrated through some gaps in the ceiling. Silven was nowhere to be seen. Nightmare and Fury were laying down, relaxed but awake, resting at different sides of the cave. The gold was greeting her greedily, tempting her to cross the lake and take a hold of a little coin, just being able to touch the cold smoothness. The mage knew better than to cross a lake that was situated before a treasure. Maybe it was instict, but deffinitely, it wasn't a good idea. Dragons were powerfully magical creatures.

The woman walked towards the entrance of the cave. Poking her head out, through the curtains of leaves and twigs, Yolei didn't dare to come out. Silven was standing right before it, backing her so he hadn't noticed her pressence. The man inhaled deeply, breathing the morning's fresh air, the humid coolness after last day's storms. Sounds of all kinds of birds and creatures echoed in a chorus, and the elf seemed to be enjoying this with all his soul.

"It's good to be home..." Silven said gently, taking another deep breath and exhaling the air out.

"Silven?" Yolei inquired, rustling the leaves very noisily to call his attention.

The man turned around and smiled gently, as well as brightly like the sun's golden beams. The bluish violet eyes were sparkling with such a luminity, with such a magic, that they were an intense violet colour now, like a morning sky, or an aurora of the north. Yolei gasped lightly at this breathtaking vision, for watching the elf so radiat made her blush. Yet she was fast to ignore it, and came out of the cave completely.

"Hello, Yolei!" the man said, almost exitedly.

"About last night... well, you don't have to come with me if you don't want to!" Yolei explained awkwardly.

"You'll never get there if I don't help you." Silven explained, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"But where exactly are you taking me? You're saying that you will help me, but I still don't know how!" Yolei was deffinitely very tense when her voice exploded in complains.

"Relax, listen!" Silven said, waiving his hands to calm her down, "You want to be with Izzy, and you know dragons and humans can never be together." The elven boy explained calmly.

Yolei nodded shily, visibly more relaxed.

"Well then, the only way you can be together is by becoming a dragon. I know someone who can do that, that's where I was taking you!" Silven said more excited now.

"Who is this person, and where exactly is he?" Yolei question more trustlessly.

"Her name is Argenta, and she lives in Aberyn." Silven explained with a shimmer of nostalgia blazing in his violet eyes.

"Aberyn?" Yolei's voice spoke questioningly.

"It's an island hidden at the south of the Eanay ocean." Silven said, staring into the depths of the jungle that surounded them.

"Fine then. I'll go get the horses!" Yolei said, and turned around to get back into the cave.

"That's it? You aren't going to ask any more questions?" Silven inquired, staring at the retreating mage with surprise.

"No... what more should I ask?" Yolei asked him shrugging, stopping right before the entrance of the dragon's lair.

"I don't know, like how I know about the island, for example!" Silven exclaimed, staring at the woman and pondering about possible inquiries.

"Why should I? I don't know this place! If it's a legendary island, or something like that, I don't know it. So don't expect me to be shocked if you tell me we are going to Aberyn." Yolei argued, staring at the elf severely, "It's almost as if I tell you we are traveling to Atlantida."

"At... lan... ti... da?" Silven's face was priceless, his confussion as he tried to pronounce the legendary Atlantida's name.

"See?" Yolei huffed, raising her arms to the air and vanishing behind the green curtain of foliage.

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Hours later, the two riders had finally exited the thickness of the jungle. A small hill covered in green grass was like a rug placed at the exit of a luxury hotel. Right where the slope ended, a vast extention of desert expanded before their eyes. At the very end, was the sea, glimering in the distance like a sapphire.

"It's beautiful!" Yolei exclaimed, watching the parade from her position on the heights.

"And dangerous, lets go!" Silven said seriously, he was frowning, and his eyes scanned the desert back and forth, as if searching for something.

"Dangerous? Why? What can hide in such a big surface of white sand?" Yolei asked, staring at Silven without understanding, her coment was a direct protest.

"We can't, that's for sure." Silven said, kicking Fury's sides and starting to walk, "Anyways, this used to be the home of a vicious, black dragon. It might still be around." The elf kicked Fury much more insistently, making the stallion beging to gallop.

"Wait!" The mage called, kicking her mare and receiving a snort of protest as she began to gallop.

The two horses galloped across the soft sand. Nightshade's thick hooves were sinking on the gentle softness, and Yolei was having serious troubles keeping her balanced enough to continue the gallop. Red Fury was galloping with some ease, yet the smaller hooves kept penetrating the sand. A cloud of dust was being lifted as the horses torn the sand and broke the soil. A cloud of dust that was visible from a long distance.

The thundering sound, mixed with a screal, of a guttural, animalistic sound, startled the two travelers, and their horses. Nightmare seemed to lean lightly to the left side, as she attempted to maintain her nerves calm. Yolei looked left and gasped. There was something terribly familiar about the enormous shadow looming over them threateningly. It was the same dragon she and Nightmare had been escaping from, a couple of nights after she reached Becenykan with Matt and Kari.

"Silven! It's a dragon!" the woman yelled, urging the mare forward with a move of her hands, and leaning her body forward.

"I know!" Silven answered, not shaking a single muscle, "Keep riding!" the elf yelled back, urging Fury faster.

Yolei obeyed, and tried to ignore the growing shadow that was already over them. The black dragon roared again, and the mage noticed him inhaling a gulp of air, getting ready to spit the lethal, fire attack. The woman closed her eyes, and got ready for the torching blow they were to receive. It was because of her fear that Yolei never got to see the small, valiant shadow, flying straight to the black reptile. The mage did hear the hight pitched call, and the dragon's surprised roar, and did feel the retreating combatants.

Interested in the events, Yolei opened her eyes and turned her head to the point where the dragon was fighting a flying creature, like a large bird, much smaller than him. It was a griffin, the tan body of a lion's, the claws of an eagle's, the dark brown head, beak and wings, those of a prey bird, and the chocolate eyes... the chocolate eyes were human. The small, winged beast was fighting the black dragon, alone, evading the flames, the slashed, and the bites, and attempting to blind him with his small claws.

"Silven!" Yolei called rapidly, pulling at the mare's reins and making her stop abruptly.

"You could just tell me to stop, you know?" the mare protested, displeased.

"Sorry... SILVEN!" Yolei called again, staring at the retreating figure.

Finally, the elf looked at the woman. Seeing how she had stopped, Silven also pulled Fury's reins and made him turn around, galloping to reach the black mare and the mage.

"Everything ok?" Silven asked breathlessly, once he had reached Yolei's side.

"That griffin has saved us!" Yolei pointed at the animal, still manoeuvring to stay alive.

"Probably we entered his territory. Griffins are natural from here, lets go!" Silven turned around to leave, and got ready to kick Fury.

"That griffin has saved our life, Silven." Yolei said much more seriously, much harsher, "Do you think it's got a chance against that dragon?"

"Yolei, we will get killed! The four of us!" Silven snapped angrily, "That dragon there is called Shadow, and he is Rakesh's first mate. That dragon defeated Quicksilver, who is Argenta's son, a white dragon! The Prince of Dragons! Do you think we've got a chance?"

"How can you be such a coward, Silven?" Yolei snapped angrily, glaring at the elf.

The mage tugged at Nightmare's left reign and both galloped into the distance, towards the dragon. Silven, frozen in the place, saw Yolei face Shadow valiantly, while Nightmare reared and snorted at the monstruous reptile. A ball of fire flashed here, followed by a column of fire. A brown blurr, that was the griffin, distracted the dragon's attention, and Yolei took that chance to cause some serious damage with ice darts. The dragon roared and crimson blood oozed from various gashes on his chest.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" the chestnut stallion protested, stomping on the sand with his hoof.

"I... I can't... I..." Silven began saying, watching how a mage and a griffin were risking their lives to defeat a dragon.

"Oh, shut up! Of course you can!" Fury snorted, and glared at the elf through his amber eyes.

At that precise moment, the dragon threw a blow at the griffin with his claw, and sent the poor winged beast rolling on the sand. Nightmare recoiled fearfully, staring at the monster as he leaned threateningly over her and her rider. The mage kept facing the dragon bravely, glaring at the monster, letting him know she was no longer afraid. Silven knew that Yolei would never survive against that precise dragon. Silven knew something for sure, and that was that he would give his life for the girl, because he loved her.

"GO, GO, GO!" the man whipped the stallion with the remaints of the reins.

The chestnut horse leapt at a wild gallop, and began heading towards the dragon. Silven let go of the stirrups and kneeled on the saddle. When he was sure that he was balanced, the elf stood on the saddle, one foot front, the other back, and the reins being held by his long, slim fingers.


	15. Quicksilver

The dragon was much smaller than the other two, perhaps half their size. It was a bright copper coloured reptiles, with a thin head, and a pair of intelligent, amber eyes. The wings were spread out, protecting the children from Shadow's attack. It was a female dragon, staring defiantly at the two combatants, ready to react in case the black decided to attack.

Quicksilver was trapped in a tight, painful embrace. The black dragon's claws were tearing his flesh, gripping him in a deadly hug. The Prince was also gashing the black's scales, specially those of his chest and stomach, which were the most visible and closer. Shadow attempted to throw a bite at the white dragon, but Quicksilver's neck curled backwards and evaded the attack. A clawed paw slashed the black muzzle with a roar of anger.

"I might fall, but you will fall with me!" Shadow growled, breathing air to boost his dragon attack.

"I don't think so!" Quicksilver fired a beam of white light at the dragon's eyes.

Shadow roared painfully, the smell of burnt skin began to spread across the deserted valley. Feeling how the grip was being released, Quicksilver pounced on the air using the strength of his hind legs. The large wings opened and began to flap, making him go higher, where he might have more advantage. Shadow shook his head and growled at the flying figure. The black dragon had lost one eye, but the other, although his vision was blurry, was still functioning. Baring his fangs, Shadow leapt onto the air, after Quicksilver.

First there was a pursuing of the black after the white. Once Quick considered they were far enough from the people below, he spinned on the air, placing his belly facing the sky. Shadow was too shocked by this sudden movement to stop or change direction. The black dragon flew directly to the white one. Claws gashed his stomach in some grave wounds, but the dragon was stronger than that.

Recovering balance in flight, the black dragon made an acused change of direction and flew straight for Quick. The white got ready for the impact, baring his fangs. Both dragons collided on the air. Quick's fangs sank on the black's shoulder, while the black bit the lower part of his neck, and began scratching the white forearms. Crimson blood was starting to pour out of the large gashes, tinting the white scales with its deep colour. Quick growled deeply, but didn't let go. Actually, the more intense the pain was, the more his fangs sank on the black's shoulder. It was also happening the other way around, such that both dragons were embraced in a deadly hug none could escape,

"We have to do something!" the copper dragon growled at the two children and the mare. "Quicksilver will never defeat Shadow!"

"I'll go!" Tai said standing up and starting to concentrate.

"NO!" Yolei stopped his attempts with a hand on his shoulder, and a ferocious glare, "I know you! You are that dragon, Koe!" the girl exclaimed, staring at the reptile with a smile.

"There is no time for that, young mage!" Koe said staring at the two dragons, who were beggining to fall. "Quick is in danger!"

"But what can I do?" Yolei moaned.

"You are a mage!" Koe snapped, staring a the girl with disbelief, "Think about something!"

"Like what?" Yolei was staring at the two dragons desperately.

"Yolei, what would you do for someone you love?" Nightmare asked out of the blue.

"I'd give my life for them..." the mage said, staring at the white dragon with fearful eyes.

"What does Shadow love the most?" Tai asked suddenly, guessing the mare's idea.

"Nigra, his black dragon sister!" Koe said, staring at Tai with glimmering eyes. "But Nigra is dead, Blaze killed her!"

"It doesn't matter. Yolei!" Tai turned to face the girl with a mischievous, intelligent look in his face, "Do you think you can conjure an image of Nigra?" the boy asked.

"I'd need someone for focus." Yolei confessed, nodding shyly, and blushing slightly.

"I'll do it!" Nightmare stated, rearing and stomping her forehooves on the ground, lifting a small cloud of pale dust.

The mage pondered about it for a brief instant. They wouldn't loose anything if they tried. The woman nodded and extended her hand before her, getting ready to prepare the spell. Nightmare turned around and galloped at full speed, towards the dragons. Yolei stared at the retreating equine, concentrating on her, focusing the spell on the black shadow.

"Ogpae Apakoh Nigra!" the girl recited slowly, clearly, frowning at the mare as the intense concentration began to puncture her brain painfully.

There was an intense expectation. Nightmare was beggining to diminish speed, seeing as the spell didn't seem to work. Shocking them all, the image flashed, appearing all of a sudden. A black dragon, female, gliding at low height over the ground. Yolei smiled proudly at Tai and Koe. Nightmare increased her speed and galloped right below the dragons, turning and rushing back to where the mage, dragon and griffin waited.

Quicksilver couldn't hold on any more. Blood kept pouring from the numerous wounds, and air began to lack as the black's jaws pressed tighter. It was obvious that Shadow was much stronger than him, and that he was destined to sucumb to his power. The black dragon opened one amber eye much wider, the one that wasn't blind. The animal had seen the shape of his sister gliding below them.

"Nigra!" the miserable creature moaned desperately, releasing Quick's neck.

The white dragon wasn't expecting that. Shadow released the deadly grip on his body and flew after the second, black dragon. Quick toppled down, towards the soft sand. The animal recovered his flight balance, flapping violently and lifting enormous clouds of dust. Finally, two metres from the ground, the dragon collapsed on the sand. The wounds still ached, and his body was exhausted.

The black dragon flew after the image of his siter. It was a saddening image, watching the poor creature flying desperately, in a demented way, after the spell wyrm. Yolei had a moment of weakness, seeing that maybe, just maybe, Shadow wasn't as bad as painted. Nightmare galloped rapidly, heading towards the group. The mare passed right under Koe's copper body. At that precise moment, the copper dragon leapt up and gripped the black dragon, sinking her fangs on the animal's throat. Both dragons fell.

Koe stood up, shaking her body and breathing heavy, staring at the black dragon with a look of indifference. As cruel as it might be, it was in their nature. The millenary fight between the dragons of good and evil always ended this way, with either of them down. Shadow was shaking, staring at the group, at the black mare and the mage who had managed to trick him so brightly. There was a content smile on his reptilian lips. Finally, bleeding through the deep gashes of his throat, the dragon stopped moving, his soul leaving to rest along with his sister, in a world where they could just be themselves.

"Quick!" Koe said, staring at the white dragon, still laying on the ground.

With a quick glide, the copper dragon flew towards the enormous white. Tai, Yolei, and a terribly exhausted mare followed. Quicksilver raised his head upon seeing the smaller reptile approaching him. Eyes darted to check on the chestnut horse. Gone, it had disappeared. Finally, the violet eyes landed on the landing shape of the sun dragon.

"Koe? It was you all along?" Quicksilver inquired, staring at the female.

"Are you all right?" Koe inquired, ignoring him.

"I'm fine. The wounds hurt a little, but that's all." The dragon explained, standing up with some trouble.

"Silven!" Yolei's voice echoed, furious and worried at the same time.

"Yolei!"" the dragon was surprised she had guessed.

"You... you lied to me!" the woman was furious, clenching her fists.

"I didn't do it on purpose, Yolei! I had to protect myself, and I had to protect you, I couldn't let you, or anyone know I was Quicksilver!" the dragon said, looking ashamed.

"And you... you love me!" Yolei clenched her fists tighter, tears began to fall through her eyes, "Knowing what I was trying, knowing how hard a human and dragon love is, you still fell in love with me!"

"Quick..." Koe pricked her ears, and stared at the dragon.

"I didn't mean it to be that way, Yolei..." the dragon evaded the three pairs of eyes fixed on him, and stared at the woman with a loving and saddened glance.

"I hate you!" the mage said angrily, now tears covered her cheeks, makig her skin glitter.

The woman turned around and fled, fast yet tripping from time to time on the treacherous, soft sand. The dragon bellowed her name, staring at her retreating figure. There was an attempt from the white figure to follow the mage, but he was quickly stopped by a strangely valiant, black mare.

"Let her be..." Nightmare said, shaking her head.

The black horse walked towards the mage, slowly, letting her cry her despair, giving her the time she needed.

"Quick, how crazy are you to..." the dragon said, reproachfully.

"Koe, I didn't mean to, all right? My mother told me to bring the Saviours, and that's what I was doing." The dragon was frustrated, "I wasn't willing to let things go this way!"

"But Yolei is here to find Izzy, right?" Tai interviened.

"Yes..." Quick said painfully, while Koe turned her face sideways, to stare into the infinity of sand.

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"I can't believe it!" Yolei huffed, clearing her tears.

The mage was seated right at the oceanic shore, where the air was cooler, and the sand much softer. The girl's eyes were glancing at the infinity of the most amazing, brightest and bluest ocean she had ever seen. Pollution had destroyed the earth's sources, and given seas that greenish, dirty look.

"Yolei..." Nightmare said gently, taking great care into not scaring the mage.

"Nightmare... what are you doing here?" Yolei inquired with an strangled voice, "leave, please..." the girl retunrned her gaze to the sea.

"Why are you so affected? It's not like you've discovered anything new." Nightmare inquired, letting her body fall next to the woman.

"He shouldn't have lied to me..." Yolei murmurred, glancing away from the mare.

"Yolei, are you sure it was he who was lieing to you?" Nightmare inquired, snorting lightly to get rid of the annoying grains of sand that had come up to her nose.

"Hum? What do you mean?" the mage asked, turning to stare at the black horse.

"I think that maybe you are lying more that that poor dragon." Nightmare comented thoughtfully.

"I didn't lie to him! I always told him the truth!" Yolei protested angrily.

"Not all lies are directed to someone else." Nightmare said gently, standing up and galloping off, back to where the three beings waited.

That left the mage thinking for a while. There was a warm shudder in the depths of her stomach, but the woman brushed it off. Pondering about the mare's words, Yolei didn't see the two dragons and Tai approaching her.

"Yolei, we have to go." Silven said carefully, gently, back in his elven shape.

"Leave me alone, Silven..." the woman snarled, evading his gaze angrily.

"But Yolei..." the elf was desperate, as his violet eyes glanced at the furious woman.

"Leave it to me." Tai said nodding assuringly, "Yolei, listen up, it's not as if you've seen something new, you know?" the man gripped the girl's arm and forced her to look at him.

"Let me go, Tai!" the girl snapped angrily, releasing her arm with such violence that it hurt herself.

"Come on. What is altering you so much? I'm a griffin, Matt's a werewolf and Izzy is a dragon, where is the difference?" the boy inquired yelling.

"You wouldn't understand!" Yolei yelled louder, as if she would gain the reason just for that.

"What wouldn't I understand? That you lost Izzy because he was a dragon, and now you feel like you're loosing Silven too?" Tai yelled, raising his arms in frustration.

Silven's eyes widdened upon hearing this. Suddenly, his head turned to stare at the woman. There was a fain blush on her cheeks, hence it could also be the furious tint of her anger.

"Don't say nonesense, Tai. I love Izzy, and that's it! I'll find a way back to him, with your help, or without it!" this time, Yolei's eyes turned to glare at Silven.

"Shut up already, mage. Get on Quick's back and lets go!" Koe growled angrily, towering over the woman furiously, baring her sharp fangs.

"All right, all right. Relax!" Yolei said surrending, raising her hands up high.

Moment later, Tai was flying on Koe's back, while Yolei was forced to ride Quicksilver. Nightmare was left behind, since, being a horse, she couldn't be carried along.

"How am I to call you now?" Yolei sneered from her seat between the wings.

"I'd like it if you would call me Silven. It was the name you knew me by." Quick answered with a gentle growl.

"But that's not your real name! It's not your real you!" Yolei snapped, "Silven doesn't exist!" she finished crudely.

"I wish you could ever forgive me, Yolei." The dragon said sadly, flying at a gentle speed.

That left Yolei thinking. There was no apparent reason why she should feel so angry with Silven. After all, she had found out about Izzy, and had been at his side. However, there was this feeling of betrayal that was consuming her, devouring every single bit of her joy and making her miserable.

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There was a moment in which nothing could be seen. The protection around the island was a dense fog that hid sharp icebergs. Only someone who knew his way around could ever cross this place and make it safely to the heart of Aberyn. Silven and Koe were such kind of someone, and managed to fly their way around with ease. Yolei and Tai were making enormous efforts to remain warm, where ice had began to form on their clothings. Moment later, they penetrated a vast tunnel. Minutes later, both dragons emerged into the centre of the island, and landed.

Yolei was amazed, as well as Tai, who was gaping. Dragons, bigger and smaller than Silven, but all of them his same kind. There was a silver dragon, Matt was on the reptile's back. There, standing out from the croud, was a rather short man with flaming red hair and deep, black eyes.

"Izzy!" the mage yelled happily, her feature brightening upon seeing the boy.

Yolei hopped down Silven's back and began to run towards the boy. Izzy extended his arms to receive her. Both kids melted in a tight, comforting hug. It was gentle was well as strong, uniting them more than ever. At the same time, it separated them slightly. Yolei's heart was beating fast, and she knew she loved Izzy. However, with a saddened smile that belonged just to her, and which was never to be revealed to any one, Yolei realized Izzy was her best friend, her brother, someone in who she confided, and someone that would never let her down. Nothing more.

To Be Continued...

AN: OK, perhaps one or two more chapters. This is getting to the end. Sorry it's extending so much but I often got very good ideas. Anyways, this was ok, but not the best I wrote.


	16. Reunited

"I missed you." Izzy said gently, now placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I missed you too." Yolei answered earnestly.

"I see you belong to Becenykan, then?" the boy inquired, staring at her outfit.

"Yes, I'm a mage." The woman said, proudly.

Silven was devastated. The dragon walked away, vanishing behind the crowd, searching for a moment of solitude. Yolei saw him, with a pain that broke her heart, retreating away from her and her apparent lover.

"Yolei, I have to tell you something." Izzy said nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Shh." The woman placed a finger to his lips, "You are the best friend I ever had, Izzy. You are like a brother to me. I'll never forget all you risked to help me, and all you did for be back in Odaiba. I came back all this way just to tell you this, and look, I'm a mage!" the woman said, laughing, yet with tears in her eyes.

"Yolei, that was really beautiful!" Izzy said, smiling gently, feeling those emotive tears beggining to itch his black orbs.

"Now we can always be together." Yolei said through tears.

"Yes, we can." Izzy said, more nervously, eyes Koe as she tilted her head.

"That means will always be friends, right?" Yolei questioned, looking hopeful.

"Always, Yolei." The man said, looking at the woman confused, but also touched by her sincere feelings.

"Thank you, Izzy." The woman said softly, leaning forward and kissing his cheek softly. "Now I have to go do something important. I'll see you at dinner!" Yolei laughed, rubbing her tears off.

The woman trotted off after her sincere conffesion. Izzy saw her vanish between the white towers that were the dragon's legs. The man stared at Koe, who seemed to be smiling satisfied. Shrugging, he proceeded to greet the copper dragon the propper way, that was, until he saw Tai sitting on the dragon's back.

"What are you doing here?" the man inquired, staring at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

"Vacations!" Tai answered sarcastically.

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Silven was standing next to the lake, glancing at the image reflected on the surface. Even although he was under the appearance of an elf, Silven was staring at the face of a sad looking dragon. The water and the shadow always revealed his true self, and he hated it. Now he despised being a dragon, because he had fallen in love with a woman. Relations between mages and normal men were not well seen, because mages were hated, but they worked. Between elves and humans, dwarves and halflings, dwarves and humans, etc. All of them were not well seen but they worked. But dragons could only mate with dragons, and it would never work otherwise.

"Silven?" Yolei's voice ringed in his ears.

"Yolei, what are you doing here?" Silven turned around rapidly, he didn't want to look so eager, but he couldn't help it.

"I saw you leaving, and I just thought I had overreacted before." The woman said, smiling somewhat gently.

"It's ok, Yolei, no problem." Silven said with a smile, "Have you got to talk with Argenta?" the elf questioned curiously.

"Not yet. However, I think I changed my opinion about becoming a dragon." Yolei explained, walking next to Silven and staring at her image in the water.

"Why not? Don't you want to be with Izzy?" Silven asked the girl, looking bewildered.

"He's my best friend. But I realized I just don't love him that way. It's more a brotherly thing, you know?" the woman said thoughtfully, "Also, I want to get to know my mage self, practice spells, do magic. As a dragon, I'd loose that." The girl said shrugging.

"You are taking the best choice, you know? Being a dragon is not cool, you are slaved to your kind, forever!" Silven had pronounced those words with something close to hate.

"I don't think it is that bad." Yolei said, staring at the boy and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Not that bad? I can never be with you, because I'm a dragon!" Silven stared at Yolei very intensely, "I love you..." the boy seemed to collapse in desperation.

"Silven, that's not true!" Yolei said more loudly, to catch his attention. "Fight for it!"

"Why should I?" the man asked her, taking a step closer.

"Because of this..." Yolei whispered softly, staring into the elf's violet eyes.

Suddenly, the woman leaned forwards and placed her lips against the elf's lips. Silven was shocked at first. Slowly, he let himself sink into the kiss, tasting the flavour of comprehension and a deep, proffound union. Two lover, who couldn't be more less alike, united by the same avdenture. Two people who just met, discovering their lives together. Now, they would share those lives they had found.

"Yolei? OH...!" Kari's voice was followed by her body, "Sorry!" she exclaimed blushing and turning around.

"Kari!" the mage shouted, leaving Silven abruptly and pouncing on the woman. "You're alive!"

"I am!" Kari said, pulling away and smiling brightly, "And I'm a dragon too!" she said suddenly.

"You what?" Yolei inquired after a few seconds of cold silence, where she was digesting the information.

""I'm a silver dragon, Yolei!" Kari said with brightness. Silven looked at the two intently, in silence.

"That's great!" Yolei hugged her friend once again, once her muscles had recovered movement.

"Thank you, Yolei." Kari said, breathing deeply, "And I see you're a... you're a..." Kari stared at the woman with a confused, studious glance. "What are you?" she asked finally.

"Come on, Kari, lets go." Yolei laughed, illuminating the way with a spell that created a sphere of light.

Silven and Kari followed her. Kari was with a look of utter bewilder, while the elf was looking at the woman funnily, with a bright grin on his lips. It was odd, he looked brighter, more animated, his skin was illuminated with a pure glimmer, and his violet eyes sparkled vividly.

"By the way, where are we going?" Yolei asked, turning around and staring at the two.

"We must go see Argenta, the Queen of Dragons." Kari said, trying to hold back a laughter.

"Follow me." Silven jumped forward, and his white dragon form glided over the two girls.

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Argenta was the largest dragon they had ever seen. Sitated in the center of a large, ice cave, the dragon's head almost reached the inmense ceiling. The long whiskers floated at each side of her face, and the long, silver mane glimmered like snow. A pair of silver eyes were looking down at the group of children. Kari, Izzy and Silven were all in their natural form. Yolei stood next to Jaguar, Tai, and Koe. All of them stared at the queen solemnly.

"Welcome, Saviours, I was eager to meet you." Argenta's noble, song like voice boomed across the cave.

Silven, Koe and Jag bowed, and were quickly imitated by the rest of the group.

"Stand up. You don't have to bow to me. It is I who will bow to you if you triumph over Rakesh." Argenta said gently, almost amused.

"Your magesty, which is our task?" Kari asked, raising her head to stare at the dragoness.

"Wyrm of Night, good question indeed." Argenta said, nodding at the silver dragon, "You all have discovered your origins. Silvane, the noble daughter of Kenta, who saved Becenykan sacrificing her life." The dragon motioned at the silver dragon, who seemed uncomfortable.

"Blaze and Koe, son and daughter of Oro and Fireflash, valiant fighters against the hords of darkness." The queen stared at the two copper dragons.

"Jaguar, a peasant. Proud daughter of two farmers, representing her kind with courage and strength." The Noa shifted nervously.

"Matt, werewolf and pirate, son of two well known thieves of the seas." Argenta seemed comprehensible at this.

"Tai, of the noble race of the griffins. Your ancestors always fought for the light, and fell with pride. Live up to them." The dragon seemed specially pleased at that comment.

"Yolei, your origins are for you to find out, if you wish. But know they are of a darkness so deep that few humans can bear the truth." That made Yolei feel a pang of cold fear coursing through her veins.

"Now that all of you are finally reunited, listen." Argenta proceeded with a booming voice, "You must fly towards the Notae Nerana, the Dark Mount. That is where Rakesh lives. The man is a powerful mage, corrupted by the sweet lies of darkness. Destroying him wont be easy, but know that only one thing can take him down."

"What is it?" Tai ventured.

"That which he lacks." Argenta said with a proud smile.

"How will we get to the Notae Nerana?" Izzy inquired.

"Jaguar will guide you, for she knows the way." The dragon of light nodded with a slow move of her enormous head.

"Shadow of frozen eyes..." Jaguar muttered the prophecy thoughtfully.

"If you are all ready, then?" Argenta inquired, looking at the group hopefully.

"I am!" bellowed Jaguar punching the air, looking animated.

"Me too!" Yolei and Tai exclaimed in unision.

The dragons roared in agreement.

"I'm not!" a voice shattered the good feelings.

"Son?" Argenta tilted her head, staring at the male, white dragon curiously.

"I'm not ready, mother. I need to ask you something first." Silven swallowed, his whole body was trembling, and he looked nervous.

"Tell me without fear, Quicksilver." Argenta said in a gentle, soft voice.

"I... I don't want to be a dragon any more!" the dragon roared his words rapidly.

"You don't want to be a dragon any more?" Argent said, shattering the dense silence that had formed in the cave.

All eyes were resting on Silven, whose head was looking down, eyes closed, perhaps expecting a terrible blow from the white dragon.

"No, mother." Silven said slowly, looking slightly frightened.

"Then what do you want to be?" Argenta's voice was patient.

"An elf." Silven was now looking ashamed.

"An... elf." Argenta seemed to be swallowing the words with effort. The dragon's eyes stared at Yolei, and the animal inhaled a deep gulp of air.

"I wont ask questions about your decision." Argenta said seriously, "But I tell you, if I make you an elf, you know you will never, ever become a dragon. Not only that, but you will never be allowed to return to the island without invitation. Are you sure that is what you wnat?" The dragoness explained.

"I know, mother. I'm sure about it!" Silven was firm now, he had raised his head and focused his violet eyes on Argenta.

"Fine then, it is your wish, son." The dragoness seemed defeated. The last word was pronounced with resignation.


End file.
